Aeon
by ReadingForever
Summary: Sequel to Overmyth. Thirty years passed without any progress in the creation of the timeline he wanted, and other people were getting involved now. Now he finally had a chance to achieve it, but there were two conditions: One, Syphus must accept responsibility for ALL his actions. Two, the Barrier must be broken without using human SOULs. What's the power of Persona, though?
1. Prologue - Setting Up the Board

**Hello there! This is Aeon, an Undertale/Persona crossover.**

 **As mentioned, this story works as a sequel of sorts to Overmyth, starting thirty years after the end of that story. However, it may be read as a standalone work, it isn't necessary to read Overmyth to understand the content of this story.**

 **It should also be said this story has some elements from the ' Umineko No Naku Koro Ni' work, however, as no characters or similar elements are in this story, it hasn't been included in the description of the story. All 'Aeon' has from Umineko is the general setting regarding the meta layer of existence, which, although it's a rather important part in the existence of exactly three characters, it's not of great importance in the overall context of the whole story.**

 **The Persona series elements are rather important in the story. Not only it has Shadows, Personas, the Velvet Room and related characters, and twenty-two Social Links, the Persona elements are also the underlying base that makes the story work. Fair warning: although the Personas get introduced in Chapter 2, all that starts taking form in Chapter 10. Please be patient while everything else is set.**

 **Finally, the Undertale elements are the setting and the majority of the characters that take part in this story. As you may suppose, those characters are the ones the Social Links are with.**

 **There should be enough material for exactly 100 chapters, so now you know how long it'll take. There's no schedule for updates. List of characters gets updated depending on who's introduced.**

 **Thank you for reading this note, and please enjoy the story.**

* * *

 _How deep is this chasm?_

The fact he had been falling for several seconds already meant he was unlikely to survive, but Syphus was feeling frustrated for other reasons. What a chump, he slipped on the wet rocks while traversing Waterfall, lost his balance and fell over the edge of the cliff! In the big scheme of things, this was no more than an inconvenience, but it was a stupid death nonetheless.

At least he had made enough progress in his initial investigation, and had taken the first few steps towards the seemingly impossible task he had. It wasn't all perfect, though, he hadn't understood very well yet how Personas were going to be of help. There was also the matter of the three Social Links he had started, and those seemed to be of even less help towards completing the goal, and what a goal it was!

How was he supposed to find a way to break the Barrier without using not even a single human SOUL?

Before Syphus could wonder what his next step could be, he crashed against the water, the impact breaking his neck and killing him instantly.

-ooooo-

 **Prologue: Setting Up the Board**

 **Nine hours earlier**

Sisyphus ran through the halls of the mansion, holding his glasses in place while hurrying towards the tea parlor. Outside the windows, purple clouds and mist whirled everywhere, the usual landscape in this plane of existence. Not that he knew much about what was beyond the manor, he hadn't been outside since he had been taken there thirty years before. Lucia, the witch who had taken him in, had asked him to go to the tea parlor, where she said there was something of the utmost importance to talk about.

"I'm sorry I'm late, I had to—?" Sisyphus' excuses, said as soon as he opened the double doors to the parlor, were quickly forgotten once he realized the strange environment he was looking at. The noise of pistons and steam, the cogs lining the walls, and the blue metallic coating of the floor and walls made the room resemble a machinery control room instead of the luxurious parlor that used to be behind those doors.

There were people inside the room. Across a large table and sitting on a large blue couch, there was a man with a rather long nose. Bulging eyes evaluated Sisyphus' confused stare, chuckling to himself. To his side, on a separate armchair, there was a young person wearing dark blue coveralls, with short white hair and yellow eyes, looking at Sisyphus' baffled face with restrained amusement. "...what's this...?" Sisyphus mumbled.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room" the man with the long nose said, beckoning Sisyphus towards the empty chair in front of the table. "My name is Igor. I'm delighted to make your acquaintance"

"The Velvet Room? What's this place...?" Sisyphus started approaching cautiously, ready to bolt at the first sign of danger "Where's Lucia?" he inquired, glancing around before sitting down. The androgynous assistant averted their eyes away.

Igor ignored the last question, instead focusing on the first two: "This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter…

Only those who have signed or will sign a contract may enter…please, take a look at this" Igor extended a piece of paper towards Sisyphus, who took it and started reading it all. There was only one single line of text, and underneath it, a dotted line to sign.

 _"I chooseth this fate of mine own free will."_

So that was the so-called contract...that seemed like a simple demand. "What's the catch?"

"The only thing we ask for is that you abide by this contract, and take full responsibility of any choice you may make during your journey" Igor stated, pushing a pen towards Sisyphus. After a moment of hesitation, Sisyphus decided to sign, after all, wasn't taking responsibility for one's actions something everyone should be used to? It seemed like an easy condition, although part of himself felt like an idiot for signing a contract a stranger he just met gave him.

Igor's grin seemed to widen a bit when Sisyphus gave back the contract with his signature. "Splendid"

"Now what?" Sisyphus asked, looking around the Velvet Room he apparently had a right to enter to now. Now that he was taking a better look, he noticed that around half of the cogs lining the walls weren't moving, despite seemingly forming part of the same machinery. It made no sense for so many cogs to not to be active. Noticing Sisyphus' interest in the quirks of the Velvet Room, Igor's assistant spoke:

"The Velvet Room's state could be considered an extension of the guest's subconscious. What you see is based in _you_ " Sisyphus thought he understood what the attendant meant with that, but he didn't ask for confirmation.

Since the attendant had talked, Igor decided this was a good moment to introduce them "This is my assistant" Igor gestured at the androgynous person to the left with a flourish of his hand. The assistant, noting it was their turn to present themselves, nodded and bowed their head.

"My name is Alphonse. My task will be to aid you in your journey" Despite the name, Sisyphus couldn't say with certainty Alphonse was a man.

"...hello" Sisyphus adjusted his glasses, a bit uncomfortable at the way Alphonse stared at him without blinking. That person had an air of familiarity that seemed inviting, but their piercing gaze and unflinching demeanor made Sisyphus rather nervous.

Having introduced his assistant, Igor continued with the usual introduction to the Velvet Room. "From now on you'll be considered a guest of the Velvet Room. You may be wondering why you're here in the first place" he said, eliciting a curt nod from Sisyphus "In the immediate future you'll find yourself burdened with a task that may seem impossible. However, the fate of not only you, but also of many other people, relies on you accomplishing that goal. It's imperative you succeed, or many people's futures may be forever lost"

Fantastic. So now he was responsible for who knows how many people's futures. _...I really didn't come prepared for this_. Perhaps suspecting the new guest was starting to feel trepidation, Igor added: "Alphonse and I will aid you in the completion of your goal, as you'll find our services will prove essential for your success. We'll settle the details of your power at a later point"

"I'll get in contact with you in an hour" Alphonse clarified.

"If you leave through the door you entered through you'll return to the manor you came from. Please take this time to reflect on what your fate will bring you, and what you may learn from it. Until then, farewell" Igor's tone made clear there was no reason to talk any further, as it was unlikely Sisyphus would receive any of the answers he sought. Alphonse didn't seem willing to be any more cooperative, either, so Sisyphus slowly went back through the double doors, closing them behind him and staring at the wall in disbelief.

"...alright, what was that?" he muttered. During his thirty years living in this layer of existence he had never experienced or even heard of people like Igor and Alphonse, and the fact the meeting had led to signing a contract made Sisyphus a bit nervous. He'd be responsible for all the consequences that would come from his actions? What would he do? What consequences would there be? And why had he been so suddenly burdened with the fates of a bunch of people he didn't even know about? Shaking his head as if that was going to clear up the fog in his head, Sisyphus opened the double doors again.

This time behind the doors there was the place he was supposed to go to in the first place: the tea parlor. There was a blindfolded woman wearing a Victorian dress and sitting in front of a large hexagonal table, tapping her fingers against the armrests of her chair. She looked like a soft-spoken and calm person, but more often than not she defied such appearance "About time you got here! What took you so long?"

"...I don't know. To be honest, I don't know" Sisyphus replied, sitting to the woman's side. That was Lucia, his mentor. Thirty years before she had "saved" him from being eternally banished from his home universe, and claimed to have turned him into the same thing she was: a witch. She usually treated him more like a servant, though.

"Fine, let's not focus on the details. What matters is that you're here and I won't be talking to the air anymore" she reclined on her chair "How have you been progressing with that hobby of yours?"

Sisyphus grit his teeth, but stayed respectful. "It's not a _hobby_ , it's a serious matter" The universe Sisyphus had come from was under study by the apprentice, as he was trying to find out the best future possible for the inhabitants in that world. He had spent forty-six years on it already, and all he had managed to do so far was make a few things worse than they were before. Lucia knew that very well, and seeing her take it so flippantly irked Sisyphus, although he tried not to give her the satisfaction of seeing it.

Judging by the way she was smirking, she knew she had annoyed him. "Rejoice! I have decided to lend you a hand. As the Witch of Hope and your teacher, it's only appropriate I give you a tip"

 _And it took you thirty years! Thank you, oh graceful teacher_. Sisyphus gave his best false smile "Thank you, but what kind of tip is it?"

"You're going to love it" Lucia moved her hand over the table. On the surface a large object appeared. It was a very ornate chessboard, almost covering the whole table, with big and intricate pieces lined on the edges of the board. The side with the white pieces faced Sisyphus, while the other side faced no one. Sisyphus stared at the board, knowing what it was, but waited for Lucia to say more about it. She loved to speak without interruptions. "How about you stop doing things from a distance and take a more...hands-on approach?"

"Through a game? You created this fragment?"

"Yeah. Doing things your way didn't work. Enough tweaking with the timelines, that's for chumps" Lucia grabbed the white king piece "Let's give it a try _my_ way. It's nothing you haven't seen before, it's the usual antagonist side creating problems, and the other side having to solve them. It should be entertaining"

If it was 'entertaining' for a witch, then it meant it'd be a major disaster for whatever world they were going to meddle with. Sisyphus felt a pang of pity, what kind of adventure had she crafted now? The fact she was messing with the universe she had come from, possibly playing with the fates of people Sisyphus once knew, made him feel a weight in the pit of his stomach. With some luck it wouldn't involve murders, like usual. Sisyphus swallowed nervously, this didn't bode well. "And how is this going to help me create the perfect timeline I have been trying to create, exactly?" Lucia's eyes flickered to the board and back to Sisyphus, the message was clear: win. "Oh".

 _They're all screwed._

At least, by taking his spot as one of the witches playing, it'd mean he could do some damage control. "Okay, I accept. Let's do it"

Lucia put her chin on her hand. "Don't jump into the fray like that, Sisyphus. There are a couple things you should know; this won't be a normal game. First than all: I won't be your opponent"

"Wait, what?" If Lucia wasn't going to be Sisyphus' opponent, who would it be? He literally didn't know anyone else who could be, no other witch had ever visited the Hopeful Star manor during the thirty years he had lived there! "Then who...?"

"You don't know him. He's a sorcerer too, that's all you should know right now" Lucia tapped the surface of the board distractedly "He should arrive in a couple hours"

So not only the game was going to mess with all those lives and create who knew what sort of trouble, but also Sisyphus was going to fight against a complete enigma. This wasn't encouraging at all, but by now it was too late to back off. If he did, chances were that Lucia would be the one to play on his behalf. _Confirmed, I_ have _to play_. "And what's the second thing I should know?"

"You're going to be inside the game"

Sisyphus stared for a moment, caught off-guard. "W-What?!"

"You're going to take active part in this game! Don't think about it too hard, just do what I tell you and all should be fine" Lucia shrugged "It'll be like going back home, won't it? You'll finally be back inside the same universe you came from" after a short pause, she added: "I thought you'd be happier about that"

Sisyphus had never expected to be allowed back into reality, not even as a piece. His body had been destroyed and his SOUL mangled, it couldn't be that simple! What did Lucia and whoever the other sorcerer was do to the fragment or timeline this board represented? "...I-I see...and how do I win? What is the win condition?"

Lucia's expression turned absolutely serious, Sisyphus could feel her intense stare from behind the blindfold. "You'll have to find a way to shatter the Barrier without using human SOULs" she said "I'm not saying _you_ or your piece have to do it. In my opinion, it'd be easier if you found a way and then made someone else do it. Do whatever you want. What's important is that the Barrier must be destroyed without using those SOULs"

Something in Sisyphus' expression must have changed because Lucia leaned forward, eyeing him with concern. So that was the goal Igor had been talking about! And he had been right, it sounded impossible. Not even with his magic skill as the budding Sorcerer of Hope he would be able to shatter the Barrier. Someone of Lucia's age and skill _may_ be able to do it, but there was no way she'd help. How was he supposed to make sure such outrageous feat happened, then?

Refusing wasn't an option, though. It was bad enough that Igor had stated the fates of an unknown amount of people depended on him, now he understood those people were the people _from the world he had come from_. There was no way he could refuse.

"...h-how do I start doing this? If my opponent will arrive in a couple hours, then what should we do right now?"

Lucia, looking rather amused, nodded slowly. "How about you get the upper hand now? Let's take a look at the board before our opponent arrives. And for that, you're going to need a piece..."

-ooooo-

The man groaned, keeping his eyes closed and grabbing his head. Sudden pangs of pain made his head pulse, it was a rather nasty sensation that got him disoriented and feel rather weak. Shivers ran down his back despite how warm it was in whatever place he was in, he felt nausea and swayed as if he was about to faint. After making sure he wasn't going to throw up or have an attack of panic, the man let go of his head and opened his eyes.

He was sitting against a purple stone wall, leaning against what looked like a small pool of ink sticking to the wall and to the back of his beige field jacket. The room he was in right now was almost empty, there were a few vines on the walls, and a couple switches on the floor. A path of a lighter purple color crossed the room, passing through a dark doorway that led towards who knew where. Feeling how his legs were trembling, the man stood up and slowly walked towards the switches on the floor, pressing them. Nothing happened. Maybe whatever mechanism it triggered was deactivated? That thought made the man's head hurt again, so he stopped and leaned against the wall. This room seemed vaguely familiar, but where...? _Alright, try to remember..._

 _My name is...Syphus, and I am...I'm a piece_. The thought came to mind immediately, that was the most basic fact. Somehow, the thought he was more like a higher being's limb didn't seem as awful or distressing as it would be to other people. That was his role in the story, there was no need to waste time denying what he had been created for. Syphus closed his eyes, leaning on the wall. _My master placed me in the...I'm in the Underground. Did I appear out of thin air or something? I don't remember a thing...?_ Syphus literally had no memories about a past life. As far as he knew, one moment he didn't exist, the next he was right there in this purple room.

It didn't take long for him to remember everything else: his mission – _if I'm a human being with no magic or amazing skills then how am I supposed to destroy the Barrier?_ – and, right after that, a lot of information about the Underground. It seemed Syphus' master was rather knowledgeable about the places and workings of the Underground, many of its people and about events that happen in countless other timelines. All this information was supposed to be vital tools to know what to do, but he felt a lot of nervousness at the perspective of having to be in a place as potentially hostile as the Underground.

Although he was a bit scared, staying in this purple stone room forever wouldn't help achieve the goal, so going outside was the only option. Syphus peered through the doorway, being careful not to make any noise in case there were monsters nearby. The next room was empty too, so Syphus crossed the doorway and tripped with something that was on the floor. Syphus managed to grab onto the wall and looked at the object: it was a wooden box. A bit puzzled, Syphus opened the box, looking inside. There were three objects and a note, which Syphus took and extended.

 _You're going to need help._

 _-Lucia and Sisyphus_

 _...right._ Syphus recognized his master and that other witch's names, it was good to know that they weren't just going to throw him into the deep end of the pool just like that. A bit relieved, Syphus took one of the objects given to him.

It was a brooch, flat and seemingly made of stained glass. It was a firefly, blue and rather detailed. While the brooch was a beautiful trinket, how was it going to be of help? _Maybe I can obtain a good amount of money selling it_ he thought, pinning it on his field jacket. While he was doing it, his fingers pressed onto the firefly's head, which caused his body to flicker, as if static had suddenly covered it. "W-Woah!" he jumped back, staring at his hands right before what he was seeing drastically changed.

His hands were now covered in moss green scales, and conical black claws had sprouted from fingers as short and thick as clubs. "What the hell did just happen?!" Those didn't seem to be the only change, though. All over his arms, the back of his head and seemingly extending down his back and legs, there were lots and lots of long white feathers. As soon as he noticed that the feathers bristled, and he also noticed he had some sort of snout, resembling a snake's. Syphus tried to grab his snout, as if trying to convince it was real, but his hands went through the it as if it was no more than air. "...whaaaat?" he muttered, trying to grab it again, but there was nothing tangible there. A quick inspection of his claws and feathers confirmed he couldn't grab those either. _Okay, I didn't suddenly mutate into a monster. This is no more than an illusion..._ That was a better thing than having his body changed like that, and overall this was a positive thing! After making sure he was able to deactivate the illusion by once again pressing on the brooch, he sighed in relief.

 **You obtained Firefly Brooch**

 _This'll make easier to not to get anyone's attention but it'd be great if I didn't look like a badly plucked chicken! Oh well. As long as no one touches me I'll be okay_. How he'd make no one touch him was something he'd deal with later. Syphus activated the illusion again, and took out the second object.

It was an axe blade of some sort, with a short spike on top. The blade and the spike were so dull he could press against those without getting hurt. When Syphus took it, a wooden bamboo handle came out of the end of the blade. _A halberd? What do I need a halberd for?_ The thought of having to fight monsters wasn't pleasant.

 **You obtained Compactable Halberd**

Syphus grabbed the handle of the pole weapon, finding it rather flimsy. As a weapon this halberd was a bad one, and it was more likely he would hurt himself than a foe. Syphus retracted the pole back onto head of the halberd, tucking the weapon into his jacket. Better not to walk around with such thing on sight, even though the weight of the halberd was awkward and unwieldy.

The last item was way more mundane, just a bag with 100 gold coins. As Syphus didn't know if it'd be possible for him to obtain gold at any point, this was a welcome gift _. And 100 gold should last a while, shouldn't it?_ At least he hoped, or things would get complicated for him.

Syphus made his knuckles crack, made sure the illusion Lucia had provided him was working, and walked into the depths of the only passage there was. He had no idea how to achieve the task he had been burdened with, but he was willing to give it a serious try...

...and if Lucia and the other sorcerer had created this game then there must be some sort of twist. As a first step, it would be a good idea to obtain information. Maybe checking the Barrier itself was an intelligent decision, too? There was no guarantee he'd be able to get all the way there, but during the trek to the castle in New Home he would be able to see if there were any anomalies anywhere.

What kind of changes could there be in this timeline compared to all others? What exactly the Velvet Room had to do with any of this? Syphus could feel there was something bigger behind scenes, something he didn't understand yet, and although the thought of being no more than a piece more in the maelstrom of events that was likely to happen during the next few days gave him some dread, at the same time he felt sort of excited.

 _Let's get this started._


	2. Persona

**As usual, the Archive of Our Own version has images and illustrations.**

* * *

The Ruins seemed eerily empty.

It may have been because of the part of the Ruins Syphus was at, but it felt almost unnatural that there wasn't not even a Froggit around. It was true the Ruins weren't a very populated place, the atmosphere was cold and unwelcoming, and the longer Syphus walked around the more he wanted to leave. Occasionally there were switches and levers around, none of them functional, the remains of puzzles deactivated long ago. Ivy covered the walls, Syphus' steps echoed throughout the empty corridors, and there was no end in sight. _How big is this place?!_

At one point Syphus finally reached a place that seemed slightly more familiar. After leaving a narrow hall, Syphus found a large doorway on one wall, and a waist-tall fence on the other wall, blocking the way. There were noises of voices and steps beyond the fence, he was finally near places where monsters roamed. Recognizing in which part of the Ruins he was now, Syphus immediately crossed the large doorway, exiting the Ruins. There was a small platform with stairways descending, the floor had a lot of red dry leaves strewn around, and the stone brick walls stopped appearing. The natural rocky walls of the caverns lined into a grayish purple arch. Holding his breath as to what he may find, Syphus took the first step in his investigation.

Just like he thought. At the end of the passageway there was a circular chamber, and right in the center, there was a bed of golden flowers. The sight made Syphus stop for a moment, a sudden feeling of respect and sorrow invading him, his feathers drooping _. It's okay, Syphus, there's nothing to worry about_ he told himself, but it didn't make those feeling disappear. Gritting his teeth, Syphus approached the golden flowers.

The flowers were intact, growing like normal. Syphus crouched, looking at the flowers attentively, but no matter how much he looked there was no denying it: nothing had been on the flowers. Nothing had fallen on them. _Does that mean they aren't in the Underground yet?_ Syphus thought, looking upwards at the large hole. He knew a human child was bound to fall down at some point, and if it hadn't happened yet...no, maybe it wasn't a good idea to meet them. He was no more than a stranger, and there was no way telling them 'so hey, I have been playing with the thousands of timelines you have been through' was going to end well. Better to stay away, he guessed.

Making sure to take mental note of Frisk's possible absence and the golden flowers, Syphus stepped away and started returning towards the purple ruins. The Ruins didn't have any other places he wanted to check, at least until he got to Toriel's house. Were there other ways out of the Ruins? It was possible the door was blocked and he wouldn't be able to exit through there. Syphus had started to go up the stairs when he noticed there had been something else he hadn't seen:

Flowey.

It wasn't strange to think he would stay away from someone he didn't know, now that he thought about it, but since Syphus was a completely new variable...he couldn't avoid thinking it was kind of strange he hadn't heard a word of him. Not seeing Flowey didn't mean that flower wasn't around, though. He may have seen Syphus and decided to keep his distance, for all he knew. Who knew what Flowey was thinking.

... it seemed like something worth remembering too, though. _Keep all the clues in mind and solve the mysteries...that's what anyone would do._ When a witch, especially those with millennia of experience such as Lucia, decides to play games for one reason or another, even the smallest details could be important.

Tracing the outline of the firefly brooch, Syphus considered his next few moves. There was only one direction to go: further into the Ruins, to explore the Underground and find the answers he needed to solve the conundrum posed to him by Lucia. Syphus ascended up the stairs and peered into the dim light of the inside of the Ruins, and started crossing the doorway.

"Wait!"

Startled, Syphus jumped back and turned around, finding the person who had talked. Alphonse was standing behind him, dressed in the same deep blue coveralls they had been wearing in the Velvet Room. "You! What do you want?" That came out a bit more strained than Syphus intended, it was just that he didn't appreciate getting startled.

"I told you we'd talk after one hour. Did you forget?" Alphonse cocked his head as if they had actually expected that to happen "I'm here to give you the other three keys you need to achieve your goals. You already have one, let's start with that one"

"Keys? I got one? What are you talking about?"

"That brooch" Alphonse pointed at the firefly brooch "That brooch will allow you to delve into the depths of people's SOULs, and what you do from there...that's up to you"

Syphus looked at Alphone with confusion, trying to find out if the strange person was being deceitful or attempting to pull his leg. "...right. I understand absolutely nothing"

"You will understand once we start. Come closer to me" Alphonse beckoned him, Syphus obeying reticently "Take the brooch off and put it on me. It'll create a gateway into my SOUL"

Refraining from commenting how odd such statement was, Syphus took off the brooch, deactivating his disguise. He stared intermittently at Alphonse and the brooch, unsure on how to proceed. Alphonse wasn't of help, content with waiting patiently for Syphus to get done with it. Syphus pinned the brooch on Alphonse's coveralls, looking at Alphonse as if he expected a confirmation this was what he needed to do. All Alphonse did was smile enigmatically. "Okay, here it goes..." Syphus activated the brooch.

Alphonse didn't gain a monster disguise, nor changed shape in any way. The moment Syphus' finger pressed on the firefly, lighting it up, both Alphonse and Syphus fell unconscious.

-ooooo-

There was a gentle yet constant sound of breeze. Syphus awoke from his unconsciousness but didn't open the eyes, he could feel there was something off just by hearing that noise. It was very unlikely such noise would happen in the Underground, so...did Alphonse move him? Why did he faint, again? All he remembered was turning on the brooch, and then...

That got Syphus to sit up and open his eyes. The place he found himself at was a place that definitely couldn't be in the Underground. Syphus – and Alphonse, who was standing near the opposite wall, browsing a thick book – were now in a dilapidated bedroom, covered in dust. Drawings made by fingerpainting covered one of the walls, while the rest were sloppily painted in red and light blue colors to approximately halfway to the ceiling. There were two mattresses placed on each side of the room, and through the holey curtains Syphus could see a patio, and beyond it, a city. The light was dim, as if outside it was cloudy.

Everything had a familiar shine to it, as if this was a memory from very long ago. Syphus tried to remember where exactly he had seen such a place, but he couldn't remember it. "...where am I?"

"This is my SOUL. What you're seeing is a place I cherish...or cherished" Alphonse did seem rather wistful, looking around with melancholy "You're going to be seeing a lot of places like this one during your journey"

"And the way to enter is always the brooch?" So Lucia knew he was going to enter into people's SOULs? What had she been planning all this time?!

"Yes. Now that we're here, I'll teach you everything you should know to aid your task. First, I'll teach you how to SAVE and LOAD"

Those concepts weren't unfamiliar to him. Saving and Loading were concepts inherent to this universe, used by the person with the most determination. Did that mean he was the being with the most determination now? "Alright, teach me that..." he complied, unsure how exactly such thing could be taught.

What followed was a long phase of meditation and trying to focus his mind onto the goal of creating a SAVE point. "You need to picture yourself and everything around you. That's the place you'll return to, so try to remember it as accurately as possible" Imagining to be forming the SAVE point in his hands helped, too. It was all much harder than it sounded. Alphonse had an infinite well of patience, though, and every time Syphus failed they encouraged him and suggested a way to focus better. Although Syphus didn't say it out loud, he was grateful Alphonse was willing to spend so long doing this. "This will be a way to prepare you for the second ability I'll teach you" they said at one point "Both involve focusing and being aware of yourself and your surroundings"

After a while of focusing as hard as he could, and imagining the surrounding bedroom over and over, there were finally results: a strange spark emanated between Syphus' hands, startling him, but he remained focused, imagining he was pouring all his will into that spark. Soon the spark grew, gaining size and turning brighter. Alphonse clapped, looking curiously proud "Well done! That's a perfect SAVE point"

"Thank you!" right after saying that the SAVE point sizzled and vanished. No matter how hard Syphus tried to recall it, it didn't appear back "What did I do wrong?"

"Nothing. You can't create a stable SAVE point inside a person's SOUL. You'll have to practice once you're out of here" That explained why the SAVE point imploded, but Syphus felt a bit bitter about how something he had been working on had been fated to be futile. "After some practice it'll turn much easier, almost instinctive. You'll be able to create SAVE points in matter of seconds"

"Seconds...that'd be good" Syphus flexed his fingers, wondering if he'd really be capable to achieve such thing "What about loading?"

"That's not as tricky, but in my opinion you should avoid loading. It'll always activate once you die, you should SAVE often to avoid losing any progress" Alphonse opened their book "You'll see by yourself later. Now I'll teach you to master the power of Persona"

Alphonse gave a short explanation as to what a Persona was, power based on the psyche. Syphus requested to start immediately, so Alphonse instructed him to focus on his own SOUL. "You'll be able to use Personas only in realms like this one. Now, place your mind in a blank state, and submerge yourself into your consciousness. You may suddenly think of a word, or a command...focus on it"

Thanks to the efforts to focus into creating a SAVE point, it was easier for Syphus to work on summoning his Persona. Maybe because it had been rather soon after finishing the first part of Alphonse's teachings, or maybe because Personas were closely linked to the psyche, soon Syphus managed to achieve it. Slowly, a large shape took form in front of Syphus, solidifying and getting defined. "You're doing well! Keep going!"

Syphus didn't reply. He had closed his eyes, trying hard to ignore anything beyond his own mind. A single word came to mind, extremely simple yet it felt right. "Pe...Pers...Persona..."

"Have more conviction!"

"...Persona..." Syphus clenched his fists and shouted with as much conviction as he could manage "Persona!"

The blurry form in front of Syphus was immediately enveloped in a ball of light, shining so strongly Syphus was momentarily blinded, stepped back and fell on his butt, taken aback by the strange power that had come from his Psyche. Alphonse, unaffected by the bright light, approached the Persona to take a closer look.

Syphus' Persona was a hooded figure, ragged and hunched over, sitting in lotus position on a levitating triquetra in horizontal position. It would have looked relatively normal, if it weren't because the inside of the hood and robe was completely empty. It had shackles on its wrists and waist, the chains linked to the points of the triquetra, keeping it on the center of the knot. The chains resembled snakes, relentlessly biting into the steel of the base.

"Excellent. Well done, Syphus. Your Persona looks promising" Alphonse searched in their book while Syphus watched, astonished and still boggling over how that thing was part of his psyche. "Here it is. 'Ouroboros', of the Aeon arcana. Currently it has first-stage Bufu abilities, and seems geared towards attacking with magic instead of using physical attacks. Its defense isn't very good"

"Wait, wait, wait. Ouroboros? Aeon arcana? What's Bufu? What did I miss?"

"...oh, right. I apologize" Alphonse helped Syphus stand up and explained the basic details of the skills Personas had "Your arcana is the Aeon, however, the Wild Card ability should allow you summon any Persona. We'll talk about it in the Velvet Room at a later point"

"...fine" Syphus slowly approached the levitating Persona, observing it closely "This is so weird...I didn't think after thirty years of being a witch anything would ever surprise me"

"My master says the depths of the human soul is a mystery that'll never be solved" Alphonse said "Never forget that, despite your actual powers and skills, you were once human" the Persona vanished, returning to Syphus' psyche "Now that you summoned it successfully, doing it again should be very easy. Try it"

"Uh, I'm not sure I did anything special, I just—" Syphus had barely willed it to happen, when Ouroboros appeared again "You're right, it was easy! But what's a Persona for?"

Alphonse approached the window and beckoned Syphus. "SOULs represent each person, so as you can suppose...the realm of the SOUL isn't empty" it was then that Syphus saw strange black blobs moving in the alleyways and streets of the city.

"What are those?"

"Feelings, traits, opinions, behaviors...everything can take shape and form Shadows. While you could fight most Shadows with physical weapons, your Personas will be the main defense against Shadows. Be prepared for fights during your exploration of the SOULs"

Syphus rubbed his temples, feeling a tad awkward. He wasn't really the type to fight, so Alphonse' warning wasn't exactly a welcome revelation. He hoped that the Ouroboros Persona really would be of help. "So what's the last thing you need to show me, Alphonse?"

"The third key you need to complete your goal is a bit more complicated: Social Links"

"Social Links. Okay, what's that?"

Alphonse idly browsed their book. "You're bound to meet a lot of people during your stay in the Underground. Each person is a world, and you're going to be in contact with those worlds, measured in 'Social Links'"

Syphus looked away, unsure of what he was hearing. "Right. I'm not sure what you mean, but fine. I guess I'll find out later"

"You will. Remember you're not alone. By helping other people, you're also helping yourself. You can't leave the Underground without everyone else. You want a future for _everyone_ , not for yourself.

So get to know people, get to truly want to be of help to them, and you'll be rewarded"

That sounded simple enough, in theory. "Alright, I understand. Is that all?"

"That's all for now. Remember I'm a resident of the Velvet Room. I exist to aid our guests, and you'll need our services before long" Alphonse smiled and bowed slightly, their silver hair swinging "We trust you'll succeed in your quest and duty"

Before Syphus could reply, everything froze, and amidst the immobile scenario a card formed in Syphus' mind.

 **Alphonse has stated their intention to help you as much as they can.**

 **You feel a faint bond forming between you and Alphonse**

 ** _Thou art I... And I am thou... Thou hast established a new bond... Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Jester Arcana_**

Alphonse touched their chest as soon as reality started moving again, as if they expected to find something on it. They had raised their eyebrows, and seemed unsure of what to say. "O-oh! Looks like I'm—you have formed a Social Link with me. I didn't expect that!"

"Shouldn't that have happened?" Syphus did feel some warmness inside them, it felt like the kind of warmness that'd happen when receiving long-awaited good news, the calm one would feel after finishing a grueling task. Alphonse stopping touching their chest and exhaled, making a 'hmmmmm' sound.

"No, it isn't bad. I just never thought we would..." Alphonse tilted their head, murmuring "Yes, now that I think about it...it could be the chance I was looking for. This will be good for both of us..."

Syphus waited until Alphonse was done talking to themselves, a tad suspicious of Alphonse's reaction to the Social Link. The assistant shook their head, snapping out of their musings, and returned their attention to Syphus. "Any questions?"

"I have so many questions we'd be here until tomorrow" Syphus replied dryly, starting to feel a bit lightheaded. In a matter of an hour or so, he had learned all these basic stuff, and felt so tired there was nothing he wanted more than sleep for a while "I don't even know where to start with all this. How am I expected to shatter the Barrier, and without using SOULs? I'm not some kind of...magical powerhouse to nullify the Barrier!"

"I thought you were a skillful witch"

"I'm not my master. I'm just a...a vessel for him, and even if I had his powers, that wouldn't be enough! He has been a witch for only thirty years! He has barely scratched the surface of the potential magic has. Heck, I'm rather sure Lucia wouldn't be capable of shattering the Barrier either! I just..." Syphus paced around, trying to find the right words to continue his train of thought "I feel overwhelmed, and now I feel even more overwhelmed because I have a Persona, I can SAVE and LOAD, I'll have to form bonds with people for reasons I don't _fully_ understand...it's too much information for just a couple hours"

Alphonse made a face of sympathy. "You should rest for a while"

"I know I should, but I can't. I feel I would get complacent if I start resting now" Syphus looked around as if he expected a way out of Alphonse's SOUL. The attendant stopped him and pointed at the firefly brooch they still had pinned to their clothes.

"Before you go, I'll give you a hint: I called it all 'the three keys you need' for a reason. It's up to you to find out how. You're a smart enough man, you'll find a way"

"Thank you..." Syphus appreciated Alphonse's encouragement, but there was something about the attendant that kept bothering them. It felt there was something they knew that he didn't, and he just hoped it wasn't anything big or necessary for him to know.

Syphus deactivated the brooch. The room around them turned wavy, fading in the air, until the walls turned purple and made of stone, and dry leaves covered the floor. That's when Syphus noticed he was lying on the floor, and stood up, finding Alphonse had left the firefly brooch nearby and walked towards one of the walls. "I'll be waiting at the Velvet Room. Good luck" they said while a blue, beautiful ethereal door materialized on the wall. Once Alphonse crossed it and closed it behind them, Syphus expected it to disappear, but it stayed there. A bit daunted, the witch approached and opened the door, looking inside.

Indeed, inside was the Velvet Room, exactly like Syphus remembered it. Igor and Alphonse were sitting on their chairs, looking at him from over the table, waiting for him to come in and sit. "Sorry, I just..." Syphus muttered and closed the door. _Well at least now I have a way to return to that room. If only it didn't involve coming all the way here..._

There was no time to stand around and do nothing, though. Syphus jumped on the spot, psyching himself up, and once he felt he was prepared to face whatever may come he entered the Ruins.

-ooooo-

It took a bit of time for Syphus to feel prepared to jump over the fence that led to the rest of the Ruins. He peered into the room it led to, finding it empty, so he took a deep breath and decided to take the plunge. With an agile jump, Syphus got to the other side and stepped forward, looking around with interest.

"Hey! You! Stop right there!"

Syphus froze, startled. Did he do something wrong? Loud clanking sounds approached, whoever was passing nearby was wearing an armor, and such supposition was confirmed once that person reached Syphus. Indeed, that was an armor. The monster was a tad shorter than him, and its armor was so unwieldy and large Syphus had no idea how the monster looked like, but such thoughts were left aside when he saw the long sword the monster was holding. Better to mind his words, he guessed... "Who are you?"

The monster ignored his question. "That area is forbidden to the public! What were you doing in there?"

"...I got lost" Syphus said the very first excuse he could think. The monster wasn't amused by that.

"Only the Queen may pass through that fence. Do you have permission from the Queen?"

"Permission from—no, I don't, I just..." _The Queen? Is he talking about the person I think he's talking about?_ "I just got lost!"

The monster didn't seem very convinced. His grip on the sword relaxed just a bit, but he was still ready to move if the situation warranted it. "I'll have to escort you away from here. Follow me" his tone made rather clear that any objections or attempts to run away wouldn't be tolerated. Not having any other option, Syphus sighed.

"Fine. Lead the way" he conceded. The guard started walking away immediately, and Syphus followed him, looking around and trying to commit to memory all the details he was seeing. The more he spent in the Underground, the more oddities he was seeing. So there was still a Queen? Why was the golden flowers bed and a part of the Ruins forbidden to enter to? "...who are you?" he insisted, although he had a hunch what the answer would be.

"Royal Guard #47" he replied bluntly and refused to say anything else. So the Royal Guard had extended all the way to the depths of the Ruins? Why? And last, the one final strange difference Syphus could distinguish, was that the Ruins now seemed to be abnormally filled with monsters, and not only the type he expected to see.

Through the rooms and corridors Syphus saw groups of monsters that clearly didn't live in the Ruins. Some of the groups had someone who seemed to be guiding them around, spouting tidbits of information and trying to get their interest. _Are they all...tourists?_ "Excuse me" Syphus tried to get the guard's attention "Is this place a popular tourist spot or something?

"You could say that. I don't know why this place is popular, but it is"

"So anyone can enter the Ruins?"

"Of course. Why do you ask?"

Syphus didn't reply.

-ooooo-

When the guard said he meant to escort Syphus away, he indeed did mean to escort Syphus away. "Go ahead and pass through this house. The exit will be open for you" the guard said, pointing at the door of the house with the tip of the sword.

"Who does this house belong to?"

"The Queen likes to spend time here" the guard quickly bowed his head and walked away, hurrying to return to his sentry spot back near the fence he had found Syphus at. Syphus turned around to take a better look at the house. _May as well get out of this place._ It didn't look the kind of place a queen would spent a lot of time in, it was homelier than luxurious. The entrance door was wide open, and from the inside Syphus could hear a few voices. A bit encouraged by the presence of other people inside, Syphus dared to enter.

The outside had looked homely, the inside confirmed it. It was a rather cozy house, with a calm and welcoming atmosphere, to the point Syphus immediately wished he could stay around for a bit longer. Syphus started descending the stairs towards the basement, but he slowly stopped. "Wait, if the Queen is here, then I could ask her a couple questions, right? I don't know if she'd answer, but it's worth a try" with that in mind, Syphus returned up and looked from side of side. There were voices coming in direction of what seemed to be the living room, he could distinguish a few words. It seemed to be monsters resting in there, planning their day in the Ruins. Instead of approaching them, Syphus went into the opposite direction, into a hallway that led to a few bedrooms.

The first one was a children's bedroom. It was clean, but there was an air of abandon that didn't fit it at all, like no one had used anything in there for years. There was a large box full of toys, carefully ordered and taken care of. The bed was smooth and without a single wrinkle, there was an empty box aside the closet, and inside the closet there were several stripped sweaters, seemingly untouched for who knew how long. _If no one has used this bedroom, could it be possible I'm actually far in the past?_ That seemed like a possibility, if Syphus was right now at a time before the child with the light blue SOUL fell into the Underground.

Musing that possibility, Syphus left the bedroom and closed the door, going towards the second one. There was a sign placed on it: 'Room under renovations'. Syphus grabbed the doorknob and twisted it, finding the room was locked. He had been about to rattle and try to pry it open when he heard her voice, full of patience and with a very subtle hint of nervousness underneath it all.

"Please do not try to open that door. That room is under renovations"

Syphus turned his head around. There was a Boss Monster standing to the side of the stairway railing. Instead of the motherly appearance one would expect of Toriel, she was fully dressed as the Queen of All Monsters, crown included, looking almost out of place in the quaint house. She was smiling patiently, waiting for Syphus to step away from the door, so he did. "O-Oh, sorry, I was looking for the way out of the Ruins"

"I see. Please follow me" she glanced back towards the living room, as if she was in a hurry to get to get back to whoever she had been talking with, and started going down the stairs, with Syphus following her closely. Both walked down the passageway slowly, the cold getting more intense the closer they got to the door to the rest of the Underground "Is it your first time visiting the Ruins?"

"Yes...Your Majesty" How was he supposed to address royalty? He didn't even dare to look her at the eyes, in case that was a serious faux-pas "I didn't know it'd be so full of monsters"

"You don't have to call me that! Please, call me Toriel" she said "The Ruins is a rather popular place to explore" Toriel's smile disappeared, replaced by a frown "I didn't expect that when I opened the door to the Ruins so many years ago. It's nice to see people want to see Home, the place we were living at so long ago, but this may have been a mistake" She managed to smile again, although it was strained now "This house is a nice place to live, I spend a lot of time in here"

"What about the castle? What about the king?"

Suddenly it felt as if the atmosphere had gotten colder, and not because snowflakes and drafts were starting to appear on the floor of the passageway. Toriel narrowed her eyes. "I'm more comfortable being here in the Ruins for the time being"

"...did something happen between you and—"

"Let's not talk about it" she said, and judging by her tone, she was completely serious about that. Syphus hurried to nod, not wanting to get in trouble with the Queen, and shut up. _This is unusual...she's still the queen but she lives in the Ruins. The only reason she'd be angry with Asgore would be because of the war declaration, so that's still a thing in this timeline?_ Maybe feeling she had been a bit too blunt, Toriel chuckled without any mirth "I have my reasons to be here. It doesn't mean I'm neglecting my duty as the queen, so please trust me on that"

"...I understand"

The large stone door to the rest of the Underground was wide open, the snowy path across the forests and cliffs was visible. "Thank you for visiting the Ruins. What's your name, young man?" Syphus answered the question "You're welcome to return to the Ruins anytime you wish, Syphus"

Syphus stuck his hands inside the pockets of his jacket, really glad he didn't actually have those sharp claws. "Thank you, I guess...is there any other way in? I'm not sure I should pass all the time through your house" That was a lie, Syphus couldn't care less about that, but it was a good idea to have some sort of alternate way into the Ruins.

Toriel didn't notice the real reason for Syphus' question, instead leading Syphus outside. "There's no other way in, I'm afraid, but don't feel bad for having to pass through my house. My doors will always be open.

It's the least I should do as the Queen: provide monsters a safe space to be in, even if it's for a moment"

 **Toriel's friendliness seems more out of obligation as a queen than anything else.**

 **You feel a faint bond forming between you and Toriel**

 ** _Thou art I... And I am thou... Thou hast established a new bond... Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Empress Arcana_**

Syphus shivered in the cold despite his jacket, did having such clear reptilian traits in the illusion make him more susceptible to cold? "T-T-Thank you, Toriel...I should get going" although she had shown to be cordial, she was distant and not really interested in trying to reach out to Syphus. _Then why's there a Social Link with her? What defines with who I get a Social Link with?_ He knew it was matter of time before he could understand better what was the deal with everything Alphonse had said, but until then it was rather frustrating to not to understand much.

After Toriel returned inside, and Syphus made a SAVE point just in case, he started walking down the path, still shivering and rubbing his hands together in a vain effort to warm himself up. There had been several bits of information that seemed worth remembering, so the short trek through the Ruins had been actually useful.

Frisk's absence for the moment, the unusual amount of visitors in the Ruins, the fact the Royal Guard had apparently expanded all the way to the Ruins, Toriel still being the Queen yet living in the Ruins, the unused children's bedroom...he had several pieces of the puzzle already, yet he wasn't sure what it all meant when it was all together. _I need more information, and I don't have much time left. I must find something bigger than all that, and quick._

-ooooo-

In the room Syphus had awoken in, the stain of ink on the wall had gotten bigger. Very slowly, it started bubbling almost imperceptibly, as if something was moving right behind it. Suddenly the ink stain started to get larger again, dripping down towards the floor.

* * *

 **SOCIAL LINKS:**

 **Fool - ? - RANK 0**

 **Magician - ? - RANK 0**

 **Priestess - ? - RANK 0**

 **Empress - Toriel - RANK 1**

 **Emperor - ? - RANK 0**

 **Hierophant - ? - RANK 0**

 **Lovers - ? - RANK 0**

 **Chariot - ? - RANK 0**

 **Justice - ? - RANK 0**

 **Hermit - ? - RANK 0**

 **Fortune - ? - RANK 0**

 **Strength - ? - RANK 0**

 **Hanged Man - ? - RANK 0**

 **Death - ? - RANK 0**

 **Temperance - ? - RANK 0**

 **Devil - ? - RANK 0**

 **Tower - ? - RANK 0**

 **Star - ? - RANK 0**

 **Moon - ? - RANK 0**

 **Sun - ? - RANK 0**

 **Judgment - ? - RANK 0**

 **Aeon - ? - RANK 0**

 **Jester - Alphonse - RANK 1**


	3. sans

It was rather eerie to be in a place where there was no wind yet the noise of one's steps echoed.

It was to be expected there'd be breeze in a forest, one would consider the sway of leaves and wind to be part of the background music of such a place, but Snowdin Forest had no such features. Syphus hunched over a bit more, trying to warm himself up, but it didn't work very well.

He had exited the ruins around ten minutes before, starting the trek towards Snowdin Town ahead. The forest path seemed easy, despite some parts of it being covered in ice. Since Syphus discovered the brooch he had lost most of his fear to show himself to other monsters, trusting the illusion to keep him safe, but there was something about that that bothered him. Having to walk through the silent forest made him realize there was something off about the brooch, and although he had tried to keep himself focused in the bigger task of getting to Snowdin Town in one piece, his mind kept wandering back to the brooch topic.

 _If I understood right, this brooch is my entrance to other people's SOULs...forming places, Shadows and everything else when I activate it. So what's wrong now? Why doesn't that happen when **I** put it on_? Syphus looked around, as if he expected the forest to be part of his own SOUL. Nothing seemed to be wrong around, and unless his SOUL also included monsters and unfamiliar landscapes, this was all the real Underground. _Did Lucia make it that way, or is my SOUL different, or...why?_

Syphus clutched his head with one hand, still looking around "Why do I look like a monster when I have it on?" he mumbled, looking at the scarce feathers peeking through the cuff of his sleeve "There must be an explanation for it, but..." feeling defeated, Syphus sighed. He was stuck, so maybe it was for the better to stop thinking about it for now.

After a while more of traversing over the cliffs and staring into the distance of the cave, Syphus started to pay more attention to his surroundings. There were almost no _civilians_ around, which was to be expected from the area – who went to hang out in a remote snowy forest, really? – but the Royal Guard presence was much stronger than he thought it'd be. Syphus had barely left behind a sentry station when he saw another in the distance, and such quirk repeated over and over throughout the way.

Almost all the stations had guards in them, and from time to time patrollers walked by. Much to Syphus' surprise, the dogs that were said to form most of the Snowdin group were just a small part of the guards he had seen so far. All the dogs had turned their heads towards Syphus when he strolled by, sniffing in his direction with whines of confusion. It seemed that the illusion looked convincing enough to make the dogs stay away, but they were suspicious enough to keep their eyes on him.

Not that the guards who weren't dogs just let him pass by, though. All of them looking at Syphus with attention while he walked by, and it took Syphus some self-control not to stare back. _You have nothing to fear, me, you'll be okay._ Syphus clutched his field jacket tighter. _Everyone thinks I'm a monster. I'm just_...

In an attempt to distract himself and not to look suspicious, Syphus stared around himself with more attention than before, as if the trees and the snow suddenly held the answers to the universe. He looked rather unnatural and suspicious, which only attracted more attention, the more he tried to act inconspicuous the more the guards stared at him.

After a particularly intense staring at the way the snow piled around the trees, Syphus suddenly heard a voice right behind him.

"nothing's gonna come out of the trees, bud"

Syphus gasped loudly, turning around immediately. He had heard no steps approaching, and the last thing he had expected was to hear a voice right behind him. "Y-You...!" Syphus stammered, taken by surprise, but in hindsight he should have supposed he'd encounter this monster sooner or later.

"sup. are you new around here?" Sans asked, sticking his hands into the pockets of his hoodie. His stance and voice seemed to imply he didn't really care that much, but there was a tinge of idle curiosity underneath all that, one Syphus had a lot of reasons to be worried about.

It was no secret Sans was rather perceptive. If there was someone in the Underground who would be able to delve into the matter and find out Syphus was under the command of someone in a higher tier of existence, it was Sans. Being careful was priority when dealing with him. "Uh...yes! Actually, I have never been here before!" Syphus said. It was technically the truth, so it should be okay.

Sans's grin seemed to grow very slightly, he closed his eye sockets. "that expression of yours...it's the expression of someone who knows they're out of place" Syphus' feathers ruffled involuntarily, that was rather accurate. Sans shrugged, opening his eyes "you must come from warmer places. whoops, i haven't introduced myself. the name is sans" he extended his hand.

Syphus didn't even try to grab it, looking at the skeletal hand and at Sans' face alternatively. After a moment it was clear there'd be no handshake, so Sans sighed. "guess you're not the type to fall for a trick like this" he said, tearing away the whoopee cushion off his hand.

The truth was that Syphus hadn't even noticed that. It was just that he felt way too nervous and way too paranoid to accept the handshake, and even if he hadn't feared Sans finding out anything, he felt rather reluctant to let himself get touched by anyone right now. "Oh, n-no! It's just that I...I didn't see it coming, it, uh, it caught me by surprise" _What the heck?! That's the worst excuse I could have—oh, forget it._

Sans winked, looking at Syphus with his right eye. "next time i'll give you a heads up so you don't _freeze_ in place" somewhere in Snowdin a rimshot echoed, but Syphus didn't laugh. Not only the joke was rather bad, even for Sans, he also felt too tense to take it with levity. The most he could do was grin awkwardly "you look like i just stepped on your toes. guess puns aren't your thing either" Sans chuckled to himself.

"I do have a sense of humor! It's just that I'm not in mood for laughs" Syphus said, and inwardly kicked himself. _Get over it already! Act natural!_

The skeleton didn't seem entirely convinced, and, deciding he had bothered enough the strange monster that was strolling by, he shrugged again. "if you say so. i'll get going. someone i know is bound to arrive soon" he turned his head in direction of the Ruins in the distance "or maybe not. things have been weird for a while"

"...what do you mean?"

"i don't know. it's the little details. people act differently...the machine's report looks more anomalous than usual... _someone who didn't seem to exist in any other timeline suddenly appears out of the blue_..." Sans' eyes didn't dim, but underneath the lackadaisical tone there was something that sounded much more serious, a clear warning: 'Try not to cause trouble'. Syphus gulped. "relax, bud, i'm not naming names"

How does one reply to that? Hurrying to deny anything would just make him look more suspicious, and saying 'really?' or any other noncommittal answer didn't sound convincing. Syphus didn't even have time to think it further, Sans turned around, waving without looking back. "have fun" he said, walking away and leaving Syphus rather alarmed. It had been a short conversation, but it had been enough to leave Syphus rattled, even more when in a blink Sans, who had walked away some distance, simply vanished. Syphus blinked a few times before turning around and restarting the trek towards Snowdin. Slowly, he stepped forward once, twice, three times before speeding up, running away as fast as he could on the slippery floor.

-ooooo-

It was nice to see that Snowdin didn't have any guards patrolling around or sentries looking at him with suspicion. It didn't look any different than how it did in all the other timelines. Maybe despite all the changes so far, Snowdin had been largely unaffected?

That'd be nice, especially since Syphus realized something once he stepped into the town: the journey to Snowdin had been easy...actually, too easy. Other than Sans, there had been no interruptions, and that was a tad worrying. Where were all the puzzles that were supposed to be found along the way?

Syphus walked into Snowdin, looking around with curiosity. It seemed like a rather friendly town! And the few monsters who were outside didn't pay attention to Syphus, maybe because he had relaxed and wasn't acting so suspiciously anymore. Syphus strolled around, trying to find any differences from what he knew about the town, but there was simply nothing strange or unusual.

Since the quick stroll through Snowdin revealed nothing useful, Syphus decided to walk to the point where the River Person would be with their boat, or at least that was supposed to be the plan. The River Person wasn't there. _Damn it._ How much time did he have left, again? He didn't even know. It was possible he wouldn't have time to stroll all the way to New Home. Waiting for the boat could be his best bet for now.

Not wanting to sit on the cold snow for a long while, Syphus backtracked. May as well try to find some basic information, get something to eat...with that in mind he entered the only shop he found. The shopkeeper – a purple bunny monster - attended him immediately, although there didn't seem to be any food available for the moment.

"Whatever. How's life going?" if there was someone who would be able to tell him stuff, it'd be a shopkeeper, he guessed.

The bunny leaned on the counter, sighing tiredly. "Life goes as usual: we're all trapped down here and there's no way to fix that. I'm already resigned to know I'll live my whole life without ever going to the Surface"

Syphus looked away. "You don't have to be so negative! Think positive, who knows what'll happen in a few years" It was a bit stupid to say that, but since the end goal was to break the Barrier Syphus felt it was appropriate to be encouraging.

The shopkeeper didn't take kindly to that, though. She frowned and lowered her voice. "Are you listening to yourself? The Barrier won't shatter for no reason. We'd need seven human SOULs, and we're nowhere near to having seven SOULs" Good! Syphus didn't need to push too much to get to what he wanted to talk about.

"How many do we have, again?" he asked, earning a look from the shopkeeper that clearly said 'are you kidding me?' Syphus hurried to clarify: "I, uh, I don't get out much"

After a moment of silence where the shopkeeper seemed unsure of what to say yet clearly didn't believe the excuse, she shook her head. "Zero SOULs. Even if a human fell down soon, we'd need six more, and I don't think I'll live _that_ long" So no humans had fallen down? The shopkeeper continued, sitting down "A long time ago a human fell down here. It all was okay for a couple years, but then they died, and...and so did our prince" she said. Syphus had gone inexpressive, simply listening grimly. Since her interlocutor didn't seem willing to say anything, she kept going "It's a long story. My point is that one would think that since one human fell down here, many others would fall too, right?

But it hasn't happened! It has been 150 years and no other human has fallen here. King Asgore doesn't give up, though. Since he declared war he has expanded the Royal Guard, there's no way a human will go unnoticed when one finally falls down here"

"Don't you feel bad for the human who will be killed?"

The shopkeeper grimaced. "Do you want me to be completely honest?" Syphus nodded, so she sighed "I do. I'd rather this to be solved some other way, but Asgore isn't going to give up. Not even the Queen leaving the castle made him change his mind"

"She didn't abdicate?"

"Why would she? It's true she has been living in the Ruins, but she's still our Queen. The amount of people who go to the Ruins to seek her help would leave you astonished" the shopkeeper returned to the original topic "Even if I don't like the war, he's going to fight the humans and get their SOULs.

Besides...it's for the better, right? It's for a good cause..." she didn't look convinced at all. To Syphus it sounded more like she was telling that to herself as a way to excuse the death those humans would suffer, but didn't work very well.

"There must be some other way to break the Barrier..."

"I don't know. The Royal Scientist is supposedly working on that, but most people haven't heard about her in a while. I hope she's working hard" the shopkeeper smiled bitterly "Not that it matters right now. Without humans, this war doesn't make any sense"

-ooooo-

When Syphus returned to the river, the River Person was already there. Syphus got on the boat, grabbing the wood of the seat as if his life depended on it. "Tra la la...have you never been on a boat before?"

"N-N-No-Not by myself..." Syphus smiled weakly, looking more as if he was about to pass out.

As soon as Syphus was seated, the boat rose and started to run on the surface of the water, making it shake wildly, making Syphus grasp the edges of the boat to the point the wood started to creak underneath his fingers. Thankfully, the ride to Hotland went without a hitch, although when Syphus got off the boat he immediately threw himself on the ground, taking a moment to compose himself before going any further. _Why couldn't it be a simple and normal boat?!_

Once Syphus was sure his legs had stopped shaking and he wasn't going to break down in panic at the slightest rumbling of the ground, he stood up and started his way towards New Home. It was a rather short trek, and along the way Syphus was able to see there were no notorious changes, other than the presence of several guards more than there should have been. The laboratory was still there, towering over everything and completely closed. _So not many have seen the Royal Scientist in a while...so far, that's normal._ What could Alphys be doing to break the Barrier if there were no human SOULs? For a moment he considered knocking and trying to find out, but instead he continued his original objective. Besides, it wasn't guaranteed Alphys was the Royal Scientist.

Not too far from there was another building, the place from where Syphus intended to arrive to New Home: the MTT Resort. It looked as lavish and outrageously flashy as usual. _Mettaton still exists? Well, I guess things haven't changed_ that _much_. Syphus thought while he entered. The first thing he noticed was the large fountain in middle of the lobby, featuring a large stone block that resembled Mettaton's rectangular form. It wasn't broken and spilling water onto the floor like he thought it'd be, though. It was breathtaking, perfectly placed and gushing water high into the air. Flashy, bombastic, and completely unnecessary: there was no doubt, Mettaton had a hand on that. "Wow..."

"Impressive, isn't it?"

While Syphus had been staring at the fountain, an angular monster had approached him. "Welcome to MTT Resort! We pride ourselves of this fountain!" Without waiting for Syphus to reply, he turned towards it "The Royal Guards came and helped to put it in place. We needed ten of them to make sure it wouldn't crash and fall!"

"Really?" Syphus blinked, a bit surprised.

"Really! Queen Toriel supervised the job. She has the Royal Guard under her orders, I'd say!"

"Yeah, someone like her would—wait what?" Now that was something he hadn't expected "I thought King Asgore was the one in charge! Other than the captain, of course, but I thought..."

The angular receptionist chuckled, amused "Undyne may be the captain, but it's called the Royal Guard for a reason. You know what I think?" he leaned closer, making Syphus step away to avoid the sharp angles the monster had "I think the Royal Guard is rather divided. Everyone is loyal to both Queen Toriel and King Asgore, but some prefer one more than the other..."

"Why's that?"

"King Asgore declared war on humanity and Queen Toriel didn't like that. Some agree with the queen; others think getting the human SOULs is a necessary evil...it's complicated"

So that was why Toriel was still the Queen despite living in the Ruins? To keep some influence on the Royal Guard? The angular receptionist, not noticing Syphus had gone silent, said something else:

"The queen didn't leave the castle when Asgore made the war declaration" he said. That got Syphus to pay more attention "I heard she left _a couple decades after the declaration_...do you think they fought?"

"Uuuuh..."

"It's a shame, they were such a lovey-dovey couple...I heard they used to be the champions at..." while the receptionist rambled about a nose-nuzzling contest and how the king and queen used to win those all the time, Syphus stepped away towards the elevator, leaving the receptionist talking alone. That didn't make sense at all, if Toriel had left because of the declaration then she would have left immediately. What happened, then?

The ride in the elevator went fine, leaving Syphus near the entrance of the New Home castle. The large doors were wide open, letting any passerby to come in. Syphus entered the castle, finding the humongous halls and rooms devoid of any people. The castle wasn't that large, but it'd take a while to find the way towards the throne room and the Barrier...besides, there was always a chance of encountering Asgore, and to be frank, Syphus wanted to avoid him.

Walking through the empty hallways was both calming and daunting. During the walk Syphus took a few deep breaths and thought about everything he had found out since Snowdin. So far, it seemed that finding out exactly what happened between Toriel and Asgore was necessary to know what exactly he was dealing with in this strange timeline, but barring a direct questioning to any of them, it was unlikely he'd find out a precise answer.

After a while, Syphus found a rather notable golden hallway. Somehow, light poured through the large stained glass windows, illuminating it brightly. Syphus had the curious sensation he was being watched, although there was no one nearby. Awestruck, the man traversed the hallway to the end, reaching the throne room. _Here we go...if Asgore is inside, I'll come back later_ he promised himself before grabbing onto the stone doorway and peering inside with caution.

There was no one inside the throne room.

There were two thrones placed in the center of the room, surrounded by lots and lots of golden flowers. Vines and plans covered the walls, growing lush and giving the throne room a very calming atmosphere. It all looked like it was all taken care with a lot of love, just like expected from Asgore. Seeing the coast was clear, Syphus stepped in, being careful not to step on the flowers too much. Behind the thrones there was a stone arch, leading into a dark passageway Syphus knew very well where it led.

It didn't take long to reach the Barrier. Right at the end of the cavern, at the way out of the Underground, there was a wall. It looked like a bubble had been crammed into the mouth of the cave, but unlike a bubble, the Barrier felt solid and unyielding. Syphus slowly touched it, moving his hand from side to side. There was no mistake, shattering that thing was going to be a lot of work. It all looked as resistant and strong as it must have been the day it was made, whatever magic formed it showed no signs of weakening.

The enormity of the task once again threatened to overwhelm Syphus. Fighting to keep away such thoughts, Syphus returned to what he had come here for. He slowly walked back for a bit, looking at the stone floor for any marks or anything that could indicate there was something underneath the rocky ground. There was absolutely nothing. Despite it all being made of rocks, the ground felt smooth. Syphus got on all four, passing his hands all over the floor as if he expected to find anything, but there simply wasn't anything to be found! Hitting the ground with his fist didn't do anything other than hurting himself, too. _Damn it, there must be a way to take a look_... It wasn't even certain he was looking at the right point. There was just too much space in the tunnel to be able to find it.

Starting to grow frustrated, Syphus took out the flimsy halberd out of his jacket and extended it, prodding the ground with the dull spike, achieving absolutely nothing useful. The rocks didn't even chip away; it was useless to continue. "I can't. I won't achieve anything being here" Syphus muttered, collapsing the halberd and putting it away. "Now what?" While it was true he had reached the Barrier, the goal had ended being less productive than he thought it'd be. Shaking his head, Syphus leaned against the wall, staring at the Barrier.

"There's something I must be misunderstanding. There are no SOULs...supposedly, I haven't seen the empty containers by myself, but if there are no SOULs then it means no humans have fallen down here.

...no, that's wrong. It just means no humans have been _killed_. It doesn't mean no one has fallen down here" Syphus narrowed his eyes "If the humans have fallen down, then what happened to those humans?" It was no proof of anything, but the purpose of this game and timeline was to finally achieve an ending where everyone would be alive, as impossible as that sounded. That _should_ mean all the humans were alive.

It took him a while, but maybe...maybe he already had a valuable hint and he hadn't realized it? "It took Toriel twenty years to decide to go to the Ruins. What if the reason she left the castle but didn't stop being a queen was related to a human falling into the Underground?

Could it be...Toriel knows about the six humans? Has she been protecting them?" Syphus closed his eyes, rubbing his temples. There was no way Toriel was going to answer with honesty if he went ahead and asked that. Then the best possible plan would be to find the answers himself, wouldn't it? There had to be something, anything that could indicate if there were humans hiding somewhere in the Underground, whether it was under Toriel's protection or not.

What didn't mesh well with such thought was the unused empty children's bedroom back in the Ruins, though. If human children had been taken in by Toriel then why were there absolutely no signs of them in that room?

 _If Toriel is hiding humans, then it's likely they're in the Ruins. Better get going, I guess_. It was going to get tiring to go from side to side of the Underground all the time. After making a SAVE point, just in case, Syphus left the Barrier, hoping the River Person still was in Hotland.


	4. Six Needles in a Haystack

Toriel wasn't at home when Syphus returned, but it wasn't empty. It seemed that during the couple hours Syphus had been away several Royal Guard members had gathered in Toriel's house, taking off their helmets and armor. Several of the guards were prepared to leave, while others had come to the house for refreshments and food, provided by the queen and left in the kitchen. As soon as Syphus ascended up the stairs, many heads turned towards him, but since he was just a monster more, as far as they were concerned, soon no one was paying him attention. Not that it made Syphus feel any better: exploring the house and looking for clues was going to be impossible with all those guards around.

 _If I can't force my way in, then the next best option is to talk with whoever is available around here, I guess._ There was a guard preparing to go out through the entrance door, if Syphus wanted to talk, then it was going to need to be done right now. Syphus approached and opened his mouth, but the guard saw him first.

"Hey! You're the guy who was snooping where you shouldn't be!"

Despite the words themselves, Royal Guard 047 didn't seem particularly pissed off. Without the helmet Syphus could see it was some sort of monster that seemed to be made of clay, without any special features. He looked more like a blank clay mannequin than anything else. Royal Guard 047 waved from the entrance. "You going to try to sneak behind the fence again?"

A bit abashed by being remembered as the guy who was in places forbidden to everyone else, Syphus hurried to go outside, getting ahead of the guard. After donning the helmet, the guard followed him. "You're not pissed off because I told you to go away from the fence, are you?"

"...no, of course not. You were doing your job" To be completely honest Syphus did feel a bit of rancor over that, but he wasn't going to take it out on someone who was just doing his job "What's so special about that place, anyway?"

"You don't know? And here I thought I was the one who lived under a rock" Royal Guard 47 took his sword, putting it over his shoulder "That's where the human child is buried. You must be rather young to not to know about it"

If Toriel was busy, the next best person to find out if there were humans somewhere around in the Ruins would be the guards, supposing they agreed with Toriel. How to touch the topic? "Do you think humans have gotten in here somehow?" Better to be direct, he guessed.

"How should I know? I don't even know how a human looks like. They could be living right under our noses and we wouldn't even know" at least the guard sounded like it wasn't something he disliked the thought of "I wouldn't mind seeing a human...Queen Toriel says they're not violent and spiteful like we think they are, but I'm not entirely convinced"

"They can't be as bad as people say" Syphus muttered.

"Yeah, right. I'm just a new recruit, but do you know what I'd do if a human came by and tried to kill me?" the guard raised his sword, grasping it inexpertly "I'd fight back. I have nothing against humans and I don't want them to die, but I'm not going to sacrifice myself just to not to hurt them. I know Queen Toriel said to leave it all up to her, but my life is my priority. Don't tell her I said that"

That seemed fair enough. At least the guard wasn't going to kill humans as soon as he saw them. Not that Syphus would deactivate the brooch, he wasn't going to take that risk. "What'll the queen do if she finds a human?"

The guard's helmet clinked, Syphus had the feeling he was smiling under the helmet, somehow. "Who knows. The queen is nice, but I have heard she started to change since she left the castle. She...can you keep a secret? I don't mind talking badly of the Royal Family, but other people aren't very understanding about it" Syphus nodded, so the guard approached so close he was bumping Syphus with his armor "I think there could be someone inside the locked room in the house. Could be a human"

Syphus' eyes widened "What?!" Satisfied with the reaction, Royal Guard 47 nodded quickly, looking around to make sure no one was listening "A few months ago I was in the house, waiting for Queen Toriel, when I heard something behind that locked door. It sounded like...like a song, like a little girl singing"

That was unprecedented! Was Toriel keeping human children looked in a small room? Syphus definitely had to force open that door, then. "Are you completely sure of what you're saying?"

"Completely sure! I have good ears, you know!" the guard raised his voice boisterously for a moment "But it doesn't mean she's still in there. Queen Toriel may want to protect humans, but I don't think she'd go as far as locking them away like that forever"

 _I know she wouldn't, but it's a bit disquieting..._ Syphus shook his head. "You must be right. Where could humans live, I wonder...?"

"I don't know if it's important or not, but I have heard Toriel goes very often to Snowdin. It could be there are humans in disguise living somewhere in the town! What do you think?"

It was actually possible! If monsters didn't know how humans looked like, it was possible some could live among all them and no one would be the wiser, but there was no way _absolutely everyone_ would be fooled! At least that was a lead. If there were no other clues in the Ruins, then Snowdin Town would be the next best bet. "...you could be right"

"I know, right? I feel bad for humans" the guard said, turning around once Syphus and him reached the fence "Our king wants their SOULs, our queen wants to protect them, and they don't have a say about any of that"

It was a tough situation, indeed. Syphus decided to go ahead and touch a second topic "I have heard the Royal Guard is rather divided"

The guard grumbled something before nodding. "Practically all the guards in the Ruins support Toriel, but that's all we can do. If King Asgore took back the war declaration that'd solve everything, but he doesn't want to" after a moment of silence, the guard positioned himself to the side of the room, planting the tip of his sword on the stone floor "I'm at my job station, so get out of here! Scram!"

"Wait, I'm not—"

"Get going already! You're going to distract me if you keep standing there"

 _Good for you, taking your job so seriously..._ "Okay, I'm leaving!" Syphus raised his hands, stepping back and out of the room. At least there was now the possibility Toriel had been keeping humans inside the locked room, even if it was for a moment. Had guards left Toriel's house already? Since it was the closest lead right now, Syphus set his sights onto Toriel's house.

-ooooo-

Indeed, the guards had left, but Toriel was there now, freshly arrived from outside the Ruins. Encouraged by that detail that could really mean she had gone to Snowdin, Syphus went outside without even talking to her. Since the queen was there, it was rather unlikely he'd ever have the chance to break open the locked door and sneak in, so instead Syphus was forced to pounce on the best second lead: scour through Snowdin in the very low chance there were humans around. Not that he was very confident about it. _Come on...if the monsters in Snowdin didn't see any humans in who knows how many decades, how will I find them?!_

It was even more complicated because Syphus had absolutely no idea where to start looking first. The trees all around Snowdin showed no signs of anyone or anything going in. When Syphus asked around if anyone had seen the queen passing by, no one was able to give him a meaningful answer. After a while Syphus started doubting asking was going to lead anywhere: if someone knew humans were living around and wanted to keep the secret, obviously they wouldn't say anything that could lead to them.

Since asking wasn't going to give anything worthwhile, then a more hands-on approach was going to be needed. That was why Syphus started to peek into the houses. With some luck no one around would notice the weird reptile pressing his face against the glass of the windows!

Most of the houses seemed to be empty, and there was nothing that could indicate who exactly lived in there. Noting it'd be very hard to know if the house belonged to a human or not, Syphus considered stopping doing this dubious method of investigating...after this last house, that is. Syphus approached the window and looked through it. It seemed to be a living room. There was a TV, stairs leading to a second floor...what was that stuff sticking to the wall next to the TV? Sticky notes?

"it'd be nice if you didn't do that"

Syphus' shoulders dropped. Of course. He had been way too focused on finding a house where humans could be living he didn't notice this house belonged to someone he knew. Syphus turned around, stepping away and facing Sans. The skeleton wasn't alone, though. There was a taller skeleton with him, looking at Syphus with befuddled curiosity.

"Oh! My bad, Sans" Syphus said.

"my bad?"

"Yeah! I was looking for someone. I didn't know this was your house"

"I SEE! THIS WAS ALL A MISUNDERSTANDING!" the taller skeleton boomed, taking a step forward and gesturing at the house "THIS IS THE HOUSE OF THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AND HIS BROTHER, SANS!"

Right, the skeletons' house. That could have gone better. "Sorry...I'll get going"

"WAIT!"

Syphus stopped, and Papyrus reached him in just a couple steps, beaming brightly. "WHO ARE YOU LOOKING FOR? PERHAPS I COULD BE OF HELP!"

"Uh, I don't think—"

"I KNOW SNOWDIN LIKE THE BACK OF MY HAND!"

"he does. you could use his help"

Somehow, it was rather difficult to say no to someone who was grinning as widely as Papyrus. Syphus sighed, flashing a friendly smile. "I'd like the help. Thanks, guys"

Papyrus pointed at the sky, posing heroically. "FEAR NOT! WE'LL FIND WHOEVER YOU'RE LOOKING FOR!" after a pause during which Sans somehow managed to roll the small lights in his eye sockets in an affectionate way towards his brother, Papyrus asked the question: "...WHO DO WE NEED TO FIND?"

"I'll tell you along the way"

"welp. i'll wait here, paps. good luck"

"WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING, SANS! WE NEED MORE PEOPLE TO SEARCH THROUGH THE TOWN!"

While Papyrus tried to get Sans to join the newly-formed search party, Syphus walked away enough to be able to look at the rest of the town. The more time he spent here, the more doubts he had the humans were anywhere around here. What would he do if he never found the humans? His last hope was to force open the locked bedroom in Toriel's house, but if that led nowhere, then...then what?

"LOOKS LIKE MY BROTHER WON'T JOIN US. HE SAYS HE HAS TO PICK UP HIS SOCKS RIGHT NOW, WHICH IS A VERY OBVIOUS LIE" Papyrus said, getting to where Syphus was waiting "I THINK HE DOESN'T LIKE YOU"

"...a lot of people don't like me" Syphus replied dryly. Papyrus and him walked away in direction to the Libraby, while Sans watched from the entrance to his house. Once they were both far away, the skeleton took out a key from his pocket, looking at it with unease.

"what's taking the kid so long?"

Something was wrong. Spurred by an increasing feeling of doom, Sans stepped away from the door and went around the house, reaching a door in the back. Papyrus knew about the small laboratory under the house, but Sans didn't feel comfortable with the weird monster knowing about it too. That guy with the feathers and the jacket was going to be troublesome, he knew it, but he wasn't sure to what extent. Mulling about it, Sans opened the door, locked it behind him and descended the stairs to the table, opening one of the drawers.

There was a photo in there, a photo from the surface. In it there was Sans, Papyrus, the king, the queen, Undyne, and Alphys. It was certainly an unusual group – Sans guessed the king was here because Undyne had brought him, but he wasn't sure why the queen was here. She was nice and all, but she had never seemed the approachable type, always in the Ruins. Sans had never crossed a single word with her.

There was a seventh person in the photo, though: a human child. They seemed...they seemed happy. It was hard to tell with such a neutral expression, but something in their eyes made Sans think they were happy. Sans didn't even know their name, but they felt the child was very important in some way. They were most likely the reason why the photo existed in the first place.

Shaking his head slightly at how things seemed so clear yet so murky at the same time, Sans turned the photo around to see the short line, written with his penmanship. It was a line he was sure he had never written...at least not in _this_ timeline.

 _'the kid falls down at xx:xx—'_

Sans looked at the clock. It was half an hour after the time indicated there. It was unlikely the human child would not fall down, that's something that had happened in every other timeline in existence, or at least he supposed. There had to be some sort of cataclysmic change to the timeline he was living in. It was suspicious enough when Papyrus stated he wasn't interested in the Royal Guard anymore – after so much training, after all those puzzles created, a few months before Papyrus told him that – because Sans had no doubt Papyrus wouldn't quit that dream for no reason, but something as vital as the child falling down into the Underground was a clear sign there was something wrong.

After putting the photograph back into the drawer, Sans went to the machine in the corner of the laboratory. He really disliked seeing it, which is why he kept it covered with a sheet – the machine always brought some rather murky memories he hadn't fully understood yet – but in times like these he had to force himself to endure such memories and turn on the machine. It was large and clunky, but it worked well.

The screen turned on.

It was easy to read the readings. On the screen there was a grid, showing a dozen or so of the most recent timelines, represented as golden line. Most of those timelines extended away of the screen, indicating they continued further into the future. From time to time tiny sections of those timelines flickered – a sign of temporal manipulation, which Sans was rather sure the human child caused, for one reason or another – but overall those didn't seem to cause any repercussions in the timelines themselves. The last timeline in the list, which represented the one Sans was in, was completely different, though:

 _After a point the timeline flickered and distorted, and it wasn't just one tiny point: it was the whole timeline, as if it was about to crumble down at any moment. It didn't even look like a straight line anymore, it looked slightly wavy. The state of the actual timeline was something that troubled Sans, he wasn't sure of the implications of such extensive damage._

 _What was worse was that the point where the timeline started to glitch like that was rather close. Sans calculated it'd take around one hour before such point finally arrived, and when it did...what would happen? Would reality break down and disappear? That seemed likely._

After taking a look at the compartment on one side of the machine to make sure there weren't any objects from other timelines inside, Sans left the laboratory. He planned to return here shortly before the big moment and see what happened. Whatever would happen...it didn't really matter, did it?

After all, no timeline lasted for long. After some point, usually a few weeks from now and the longest one being little more than a year later, every single of the dozens of millions of timelines before the actual one cut off, so no matter what happened or if everything went okay for everyone, in the end it would all be for naught. That was why he could stare at the screen of the machine without any emotions beyond a scientific interest. If the timeline broke down in one hour and everyone died horribly...well, so what?

Better now than later.

-ooooo-

It couldn't be denied Papyrus was rather thorough.

As soon as Papyrus and Syphus walked away, Papyrus asked the vital question: "SO! WHO ARE WE LOOKING FOR?" _...well, crap._ That was something Syphus himself had no idea how to answer, despite knowing how they looked like in the original timeline. What age were they? Did they look exactly the same? There were way too many variables, and he didn't even know what they were wearing...no...that wasn't true. There was something Syphus could count on.

Syphus asked Papyrus to look for someone who owned or was wearing a _cowboy hat_. That was unique enough, so random monsters wouldn't own one, and he knew one of the six humans was likely to have it with them when they arrived to the Underground.

Papyrus started to search everywhere, and in a much less subtle way than Syphus had done, Papyrus didn't hesitate to ask around while Syphus stayed in the background, sighing into his hands, chagrinned. So much for subtlety regarding the humans. 'EXCUSE ME! HAVE YOU SEEN A COWBOY HAT SOMEWHERE?" All responses were negative. Since asking didn't work, Papyrus started searching around the houses, in the trash, among the trees.

After some time, Papyrus got off one of the many trees he had gotten onto, landing right beside Syphus. "HOW COULD THIS BE? I DIDN'T FIND THE PERSON YOU'RE LOOKING FOR"

"It's fine. Thanks for trying" Syphus said with a small smile. He really was thankful Papyrus had tried to help, but it was to be expected it wouldn't be easy.

"DON'T GIVE UP YET, SYPHUS!" Papyrus snapped his fingers despite his thick gloves "I GOT IT! TELL ME SOMETHING ELSE ABOUT THEM"

"S-Something else?"

"ANYTHING!"

After a moment of doubt, Syphus decided to take a leap of faith, anything was better than not progressing at all. "Have you ever seen a human?"

"A HUM—OH!" At that moment it was as if something changed in Papyrus. He went still, caught off-guard by the question, before slowly closing his jaw, looking around with nervousness. "A HUMAN? RIGHT. A HUMAN. WELL...IT COULD BE POSSIBLE...I HAVE SEEN SOMEONE HUMAN-Y BEFORE"

Now that was rather unfitting. Papyrus had showed to be rather excited about humans in practically every other timeline, his reaction right now didn't mesh at all with that data. "Really?"

"BUT I DON'T KNOW WHERE THEY ARE RIGHT NOW" Papyrus hurried to add "IT PAINS ME TO DISAPPOINT A POTENTIAL NEW FRIEND, BUT I KNOW NOTHING"

Syphus looked at him askance "Are you sure?"

"COMPLETELY SURE! IT MAY NOT HAVE BEEN SOMETHING HUMAN. IT COULD HAVE BEEN A GERBIL. OR A ROCK"

 _Sure it wasn't a human, buster._ "Okay, fine" Syphus shivered, why was there snow in the Underground, seriously? "Thanks for helping me search. At least you stopped me from creeping into other people's houses like before"

Papyrus' usual cheerful attitude returned immediately. "NYEH HEH HEH! OF COURSE! IF YOU EVER NEED MORE HELP YOU CAN TELL ME. I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL LEND YOU A HAND ANYWHERE, ANYTIME" and there was no doubt Papyrus meant every single word of that. Syphus wasn't sure he'd have the need to ask for help again, but it was nice to know there was someone he could count on.

Besides, how could one say no to someone who was willing to give one support unconditionally?

 **You sense Papyrus' sincere friendliness.**

 **You feel a faint bond forming between you and Papyrus**

 ** _Thou art I... And I am thou... Thou hast established a new bond._**

 ** _Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Sun Arcana_**

Something about Papyrus' offer made Syphus feel warm and fuzzy, and it was likely it wasn't just because of the recently formed Social Link. Papyrus could be a bit overbearing, with his loud voice and extremely energetic mannerisms, but it was hard to hold it against him when he wanted to lend a hand. "Thanks, Papyrus"

"AND NOW, I SHALL LEAVE! I BET SANS IS TAKING ONE OF HIS MANY NAPS NOW THAT I'M NOT AT HOME. COME BY TO VISIT ANYTIME, SYPHUS!" and with that, Papyrus walked away, practically gliding over the snow in direction to his house. It was a somewhat productive hour, if only because a Social Link was created. _It'd be more useful if I understood what these links are for, seriously._

But at least now he also knew it was rather unlikely there were any humans hiding in Snowdin. It wasn't much, but it was a tiny bit of progress. Since one of the two options had now been cleared, it could be good to check the other, see if it was true Toriel was hiding a human in that locked—"

"Yo! Mister!"

Biting back a remark about how busy he was, Syphus turned around to see who was calling for him. The voice had sounded rather young, and indeed, it was a child, resembling some kind of ochre armless reptile, wearing a striped shirt. Syphus' expression softened while he crouched to talk at eye-level with the monster child. "What is it?"

"You were looking for someone wearing a cowboy hat, right?" the kid asked, their tail swinging slightly.

"Yes, what about it?" he said in his most patience voice.

"Yo, I know someone like that!"

That was it! Although it was far from confirmed and it could be anyone that wasn't a human, Syphus' heart immediately jumped to his throat. "W-Where...?"

"In Waterfall! She and I play there every day. I could take you there if you want!"

It was a long shot; he couldn't deny it could very well be absolutely nothing useful...but he couldn't just ignore that. Shaking away the snow from his boots, Syphus nodded and pushed aside any kind of anxiousness or impatience he could have shown. "Lead the way, kid"

"Follow me!" the Monster Kid trotted away without even turning to check if Syphus was keeping the pace. It shouldn't be that hard. Waterfall wasn't a difficult place to traverse, as long as one knew exactly where to go and where to step. Syphus ran behind Monster Kid, managing to stay near, although he wasn't as fast as the kid running ahead.

 _A lead as good as any, I suppose!_

-ooooo-

Being asked like that if he had seen a human had taken him off-guard. Papyrus was perfectly capable of lying if the situation required it, although he really disliked doing that, but the question had come so suddenly he didn't have time to prepare himself to lie. Luckily, it seemed his new friend had believed him! Another everyday victory for the Great Papyrus!

But there was something else he had to do. Papyrus quickly returned home, managing to run on over the snow without losing his footing not even once. The skeleton ran past his house until he reached a shed that was right to the side. Usually that shed was locked to prevent anyone from going inside. In the past it was a pen of sorts to keep any human he captured until he could take them to New Home, but since he had renounced to the Royal Guard he had dismantled the pen. Now it had a different use.

Papyrus knocked on the door three, four times and stopped, waiting for a moment before doing it again. It was the agreed signal for the person inside to not to panic. Right after finishing the knock, Papyrus took out the key of the shed and opened the door, stepping inside. "I'M BACK!"

The inside of the shed had been refurnished into a makeshift shelter of sorts. There was a fort of blankets and pillows in a corner of the room, barely large enough for Papyrus to fit in. That was all one could see from the door, so Papyrus stepped further in, until the rest of the inside of the room could be seen.

A shelf filled with books about puzzles had been placed there, most of those books taken out and opened all over the place. Countless sheets of paper littered the floor, all of them with complicated diagrams, apparently puzzles created by Papyrus and his guest. In a side there was a desk, where a single notebook was wide open, lines and diagrams filling its pages, and sitting right in front of it, was a human adult. A man, to be more precise, wearing a robe, and a shawl over it. His skin was horrifically pale, with faint bluish veins visible underneath, but his face and arms were covered with a makeup that resembled fur...as long as one saw it from rather far away. From up-close it looked more like he had faceplanted into a puddle of half-dried dark purple paint.

Ciruel turned his head around, adjusting his large glasses. "Paps, I thought you'd be away for longe—"

"I BRING BAD NEWS! SOMEONE IS LOOKING FOR YOU" Papyrus announced, holding the door with his back as if he feared Syphus was going to burst through it at any moment. That got the man to stand up immediately, picking up a headband with large antlers glued onto it. "Who is it?"

"SOMEONE WHO WANTS TO CAPTURE YOU!"

Ciruel grimaced, putting on the headband "Damn it! Where are they?"

"HE WAS NEAR GRILLBY'S. HERE, LET ME HELP YOU!" Papyrus randomly picked up a few of the books and put it all inside a nearby empty backpack, immediately hanging it onto Ciruel's neck and making the man fall to the floor.

"Oof! T-Thanks, Paps..."

"I'LL PERFORM MY ROLE AS DISTRACTOR NOW! WAIT UNTIL THE COAST IS CLEAR AND THEN" Papyrus raised a finger "THEN YOU SHALL RUN AWAY AS FAST AS YOU CAN!"

"Understood. You give me the signal, Paps" Ciruel positioned himself beside to the door, putting his glasses away. This was going to be a long run towards Waterfall, but it was going to be necessary if someone was starting to suspect he was here. Damn it, what did he do wrong? He was sure he had managed to come here during the last few months without raising any suspicions! Maybe he should stay in the Hidden Village for a while.

Papyrus opened the door, intending to go outside and make sure there was no one in the way and Ciruel would be able to get out safely, but the skeleton barely had time to peek outside when he slammed the door closed, yelping loudly and once again holding the door with his body, ready for any onslaught that could come anytime now. "TOO LATE! HE'S HERE!"

"Where did I go wrong?!" Ciruel went to the other end of the shed, uselessly hiding beside the desk. It was all over. He was going to get caught and sent to Asgore, he was going to die and get his SOUL used to break the Barrier, oh god, was it true the king had a trident, that was going to hurt—

Papyrus, unaware to the thoughts that were crossing through his friend's head, listened outside. It was faint, but he heard Syphus' voice while he passed running in front of the shed. '...unning so fast...I'm not exactly young, you kn...!" the voice faded in the distance. After a moment of silence, Papyrus relaxed, slumping on the floor.

"I THINK HE WENT AWAY"

Ciruel peered from behind the wall. "Who is it, anyways?"

"IT'S MY NEW FRIEND! HE'S GOING TO WATERFALL RIGHT NOW. I SHALL FOLLOW HIM" Papyrus aligned himself with the already broken window, still unrepaired from a dynamic exit earlier in the day.

"No!" Ciruel shouted, not wanting to deal with more glass "Just leave him alone. If he's going to Waterfall I'll just wait here for now" and so the matter was settled. Even if there were monsters trying to find the Hidden Village, Ciruel was reasonably sure they wouldn't find it at all. Only Toriel and the rest of the humans would know how to get in there, and there was no way the queen that had gotten them all in there in the first place would spill the beans and allow anyone to find it. The rest of the humans knew keeping the village's location secret was vital for their survival, too.

That 'new friend' Papyrus had could try as much as he wanted, he wouldn't find it.

After a moment of silence where Ciruel had the time to take off the headband and sit again to the desk, Papyrus stood up, getting closer. "...I DON'T LIKE IT"

"You don't like what?"

"HAVING TO LEAVE YOU HIDING HERE. FRIEND, YOU SHOULD BE OUTSIDE, HAVING FUN AND EXPLORING THE TOWN! NOT HIDING HERE"

"You know the situation doesn't allow me to do that, Paps—"

"I KNOW! I WANT TO DO SOMETHING" Papyrus declared "I DON'T WANT TO LEAVE MY FRIEND IN MY SHED"

Ciruel frowned. This discussion with Papyrus was rather commonplace. The skeleton had been rather excited when they had met for the first time – despite his attempts to capture Ciruel and use him to enter to the Royal Guard - but after some time, and after Papyrus proposed to use the shed as a base of sorts for them to meet and share their common interests with each other, such friendship had always argued because of one point: the need of having to lock the shed with Ciruel inside.

So Ciruel did the same he always did: rehash the argument. "Paps...we have to do it. I don't like it either, but you risk someone entering here and finding me if you don't lock the shed, and you can't stay here forever, too. You have a life out there"

"BUT...THERE MUST BE SOMETHING WE CAN DO!"

"There's nothing we can do. You tried to talk with the king, and it led nowhere"

" _YOU_ SHOULD TALK WITH THE KING! HE'S A GOOD GUY, HE'LL LISTEN TO YOU!"

"...a good guy? He wants to kill me and use my SOUL! Would a good person do that?!" Ciruel shouted, turning around to glare for a moment before sighing. This wasn't Papyrus' fault, shouting at him solved nothing "I don't want to risk it, Paps...I don't want to get killed"

That was how the discussion almost always went. Ciruel really liked to come to Snowdin and visit Papyrus, but at times like this...it was tiring. That's why this time he decided to add something else, something he felt Papyrus should know. "Papyrus, thank you for being my friend"

"EH?"

"Thank you for letting me come here" Ciruel murmured "Thank you for doing puzzles with me, and for telling me so much about the Underground. Thank you for...for being like you are"

"YOU DON'T HAVE TO THANK ME! EVERYBODY NEEDS FRIENDS"

"No, I really needed it. These twenty-six years I have spent down here have been a nightmare. Having to live in such a small part of the Underground, and always having to fear slipping and someone finding out I'm human, I hate all that.

Coming here and spending time with you is literally the only good thing there's in my life. Thank you"

Papyrus emitted a sound like a particularly excitable puppy, and put his hand on Ciruel's shoulder. "I'LL BE YOUR SUPPORTIVE FRIEND ANYTIME!"

"Nice" Ciruel opened his notebook, feeling the joints of his fingers stiffen momentarily and painfully. Almost three decades without any sunlight had taken a toll on his body, and his was a rather mild case. The humans who had been around for longer were much worse. The oldest one, in particular...she had been almost a century without any sunlight. It was a miracle she still had hair on her head, but other than that, she looked extremely frail.

If it weren't because the magic in the food helped to keep their health at an acceptable level, they'd all be much worse.

"You should get going" Ciruel said "I'll stay here for an hour more. There are a few details I want to tweak before I show you this riddle"

"ALRIGHT! I'LL BE AT MY HOUSE"

"Oh, and Paps?"

"YES?"

Ciruel smiled warmly "This time try to leave through the door, okay?"

* * *

 **SOCIAL LINKS:**

 **Fool - ? - RANK 0**

 **Magician - ? - RANK 0**

 **Priestess - ? - RANK 0**

 **Empress - Toriel - RANK 1**

 **Emperor - ? - RANK 0**

 **Hierophant - ? - RANK 0**

 **Lovers - ? - RANK 0**

 **Chariot - ? - RANK 0**

 **Justice - ? - RANK 0**

 **Hermit - ? - RANK 0**

 **Fortune - ? - RANK 0**

 **Strength - ? - RANK 0**

 **Hanged Man - ? - RANK 0**

 **Death - ? - RANK 0**

 **Temperance - ? - RANK 0**

 **Devil - ? - RANK 0**

 **Tower - ? - RANK 0**

 **Star - ? - RANK 0**

 **Moon - ? - RANK 0**

 **Sun - Papyrus - RANK 1**

 **Judgment - ? - RANK 0**

 **Aeon - ? - RANK 0**

 **Jester - Alphonse - RANK 1**


	5. The Final Touches - Prologue End

Compared to Snowdin, Waterfall was positively warm. Not that it meant much, when one place was snow and the other one was rather humid, but at least it made it a bit easier to run. No more having freezing air in your face.

The kid guiding Syphus was full of energy, and although Monster Kid fell down on his face a couple times during the trek, Syphus barely had time to reach it every time before Monster Kid bolted again. The kid simply stopped for a second, looked around, shouted something and started running again. It was a simple process, and it was exactly because of how simple it was that Syphus wasn't able to get Monster Kid to stop for a moment. Or maybe it was more because of how much his lungs were burning when running, not even letting him get the kid to stop. Syphus really wasn't in conditions to be running for so long.

Monster Kid had more than enough air in his lungs to talk loudly while running, though: "It's this way!" he'd say, after looking at a crossroads. _Are you sure you know where we're going?_

"It's in this place full of water. It's nearby!" he'd shout, wading through a shallow puddle. _You must be joking! Water in Waterfall?_

"We play almost every day. I want to take her to see Undyne" he'd inform, managing to climb a ledge despite the lack of arms. _She doesn't want to go, right?_

"But she doesn't want to see Undyne. I'm sure if she met her she'd be her fan too!" he'd pout, crossing a bridge. _I doubt it._

Monster Kid finally stopped after the bridge, pacing around while trying to orientate himself. While he was doing that, Syphus finally managed to reach him, panting and gasping for breath desperately. "A...Are...Are you s-sure...you know where...where we're going?"

"I'm sure! Yes. Kinda. Maybe?" Monster Kid smiled sheepishly, slowly stopping his pacing "Yo, Waterfall is a big place..."

"Don't look at me, kid...I know much less than you...about where to go"

"Let me see around again" Monster Kid walked around again, looking at every available path with attention. The place they were at right now showed a lot of different paths. Some went into dark caves, going deeper into Waterfall. Others went along the walls and ascended through cliffs and crevices, leading upwards and to places at the top of the waterfalls. There was also a bridge that crossed over a rather large chasm, and underneath it piles of garbage could be seen, brought by the water and piled in the bottom of the chasm. Finally, a few paths more were filled with very tall grass, much taller than Syphus.

How to know where to go? Monster Kid chuckled nervously before returning to Syphus. "Yo, I...I think we took a wrong turn somewhere"

"...did we."

"I'm sorry, I thought I knew the path already" he confessed, sitting nearby. Syphus, still, hunched over and with his hands on his knees, shook his head. Of course. Of course things wouldn't be easy. Of course more of these petty obstacles would get in his way. Of course the moment he felt he as one step closer to finally getting somewhere, it'd be like he was pulled from the nape of his neck back to square one.

It was so frustrating to know that. How was he expected to achieve anything when this happened? Surely right in this moment Lucia was sitting nearby in the tea parlor back at her manor, laughing her sides off at Syphus' lack of success, while Sisyphus sweated bullets and stared at the game board until his eyes bulged, wondering how to direct his piece now. Everything had to be difficult, didn't it?! Stupid witches, stupid game, stupid Waterfall, stupid humans who had to hide so damn well!

But Syphus didn't have the heart to blame Monster Kid. Syphus was rather fond of children, monsters or not. Mustering his kindest smile, Syphus almost petted Monster Kid's head before remembering he really shouldn't touch or let anyone touch him. "It's okay. I don't mind"

"Really?"

"Really. I have never been in Waterfall before, so it's good to have a guide" Syphus lied, still smiling "Besides we can always go back a bit and try again. We're not that lost"

"Yeah...yeah! You're right! We came this way" Monster Kid stood up and returned to the path they had come from, but before Syphus could stand and go with him, the child ran back. "Yo, wait! I think I remember now. We need to go that way" he pointed with his tail towards one of the corridors with tall grass "We need to walk until we find a lot of that shiny blue water"

"...are you sure about that?"

"Yeah! I'm sure. And if it's wrong we can return here, you said it" his eyes were sparkling with excitement. Exploring Waterfall was always fun, and although this monster he was taking around was a bit old to be jumping around with him, it wasn't deterring him from being happy about it all. His panache was contagious, and soon Syphus found himself standing up with renewed energy.

"Alright. Once again you'll lead the way, kid!"

"Follow me!" and there he went, getting into the tall grass. _I like this kid, he has guts and enthusiasm_. Syphus mulled, making a SAVE point. Better be safe and sorry. If they got lost again, Syphus intended to return to this point and convince Monster Kid to pick another path. Anything better than waste the rest of the day lost in Waterfall, he guessed.

"Mister! Over here!" Monster Kid's voice sounded from somewhere on the other side of the tall grass, so Syphus went in, spreading apart the weeds with his hands. The grass was rather noisy, and he literally couldn't see anything other than the growing plants. The ground he was stepping on was moist and he could feel his boots sinking down to his ankles in the mud. Syphus lifted one foot forward, grabbing onto the grass for support, and stepped, squelching sounds each time. It was a tiring process that slowed him down more than before.

"Hey! Wait for me!" Syphus shouted, trying to get his guide's attention and wondering how exactly Monster Kid managed to get through here without any trouble. There was no response, which made Syphus hurry up. After a few minutes Syphus finally managed to get to the other side of the tall grass, tripping at the last moment and falling on his back on the ground. In the ceiling, sparkly stones shone, like stars in a pitch black sky. The sound of the waterfalls reverberated everywhere. Syphus managed to support himself on his elbows and looked around.

He had arrived at another crossroads. "Kid! Can you hear me?" Syphus yelled, the echo of his voice getting rather far away. There was still no response. Fearing he had been left behind, Syphus chose the nearest path and walked in briskly, from time to time calling for Monster Kid.

Syphus knew he had made a SAVE point, but it was possible Monster Kid really had managed to get to the place he had wanted to show him, in which case going back and convincing him to not to go through the tall grass was a risk he wasn't sure he wanted to take, and if the tall grass was the correct path, then it was unlikely he'd be able to cross through there any faster. As he saw it, it was worth it to try to find him before returning back to the SAVE point.

The road was sloped upwards, following the wall in a spiral that went higher and higher along the wall. The chamber he was in was shaped like a dome, the ceiling covered in rather ominous stalactites, as if those were about to fall on Syphus in any moment. The incessant noise of dripping water echoed around Waterfall. It felt as if he was alone in the Underground, walking without anything else other than his own thoughts.

At the end of the spiral the path went deeper into Waterfall. Along the way there were many rather eye-catching places. Pools of bright cyan water, glowing intensely. Torrents of water flowing through the floor. Fields of tall blue flowers, somehow saying stuff said by people who had gone through there before. It would have been a rather nice stroll if it wasn't because Syphus wasn't paying attention to any of that. The more he walked, the less patience he had. Monster Kid still didn't reply to any of his shouting, and Syphus felt it was likely he had gotten farther away from his guide.

 _Damn it. How much time do I have left...?_

The path evened out. Syphus had arrived to a riverbed, recently dried, judging by the slippery rocks littering the place. The riverbed ended in a large cliff, leading into a hole Syphus had no idea how deep it was. Scowling, Syphus walked forward. "Okay, that's enough. I'm going back" he mumbled, closing his eyes and starting to gather the resolve and determination needed to return to a point in the past.

He had barely started when the headache struck, breaking his concentration. His vision started to fade while the nausea settled in, he was so dizzy he couldn't even see his own hands in front of his face. Feeling as if something had punched him in the gut, Syphus stumbled forward, trying his best not to throw up. The headache pulsed through his head. Syphus...the piece blinked, attempting to focus his eyes. _W-What...?_ He could see two places at the same time, blurring and mixing in front of him. A bright tea parlor, a dark cavern, both seemed to exist at once, although the atmosphere indicated he was in Waterfall.

Syphus felt something viscous dripping down his arms and back. It felt as if he was melting, disappearing from the world, in a way. "Make it stop...someone...make it stop!" he begged, grabbing his head, his vision clouding. Behind him, footsteps made of ink were left into the ground, quickly drying and vanishing.

After a moment of confusion, the headache started to diminish, although the nausea was still there. Syphus slowly stepped forward, not noticing how far he had strayed from the center of the road. He placed his foot wrongly on the rock in front of him, slipping and losing his balance. "Gah!" Syphus gasped, trying to balance himself with his arms, but he was way too disoriented to be able to do it, and the weight of the halberd blade in his jacket also helped to make him tilt way too much towards the wrong side.

And he fell. Syphus fell over the edge of the cliff, plummeting into the abyss, and as soon as that happened, the very first thought that crossed his mind was: _How deep is this chasm?_

The fact he had been falling for several seconds already meant he was unlikely to survive, but Syphus was feeling frustrated for other reasons. What a chump, he slipped on the wet rocks while traversing Waterfall, lost his balance and fell over the edge of the cliff! In the big scheme of things, this was no more than an inconvenience, but it was a stupid death nonetheless...at least he had made a SAVE point before. He wouldn't lose that much progress.

So now what?

He didn't have time to answer that question to himself before he hit the water.

-ooooo-

"...stop staring blankly into space like that?!"

Sisyphus blinked several times, trying to orientate himself. Yes, he was in the tea parlor. The board was right in front of him, on the table, prepared for the game. "...I...sorry, Lucia, I'm not used to dealing with a piece like this"

Lucia pursed her lips, shaking her head. "I hope you get used to it very soon. There's no time left"

"What? Already? It has been half an hour!"

"I told you there wasn't much time. He'll be arriving in any moment now"

Sisyphus sighed. It was nice while it lasted. The closer the deadline was, the more nervous he felt. Could he really help direct the timeline towards a good ending? "...okay. I suppose I was able to take a good look at the board. Tell me something, though:

Are the humans alive? Are...are my friends alive?"

The witch tilted her head, playing with her hair. "Would it make you feel better if I used the red truth to answer you?"

"That'd be nice" that was better than he had expected! Lucia nodded and got more comfortable in her chair beside Sisyphus before answering with the red truth, like promised:

 **Ananas, Celia, Cohen, Ciruel, Graham and Byssa are alive in this timeline.**

Nice. There was no way that could be false. If the six humans were all alive and hidden somewhere in the Underground, then this could really be the timeline he had been trying to create for so long. A bit encouraged, Sisyphus nodded and got closer to the board.

There was something about Sisyphus that made Lucia be unsure of what could happen, though. She had no qualms with messing with worlds or causing deaths, if so she wanted, but after letting Sisyphus live with her for thirty years she couldn't deny she had a soft spot towards him...at the very least. He wasn't the most determined person – the only reason why he had been given the SAVE and LOAD skills was because Alphonse intervened and passed it to him – and to be frank he was a bit of an idiot, but he was a friend. Kinda. Almost.

"You do know what's in risk here, don't you?" she asked.

"Of course I do. That Igor guy told me all"

"Then you also understand losing the game is not an option"

Sisyphus took off his glasses, cleaning the lenses with a bit more of force than necessary. "I know. You don't have to remind me"

"Well, rejoice. I have decided to give you a hand" Lucia smirked, raising a finger "I'm going to give you hope"

"...really?"

"And what better hope than giving you a hand? With me at your side, you're going to triumph. I can't _guarantee_ it, but at least I'll make sure this doesn't end in a complete wipeout...for your opponent"

Sisyphus put on his glasses. "I thought you'd have faith on me"

"I have spent the last thirty years with you, Sisyphus. I know what you're capable of, and what are your flaws. I think some help would do you some good. Don't misunderstand me..." Lucia furrowed her brow, a bit obscured by the blindfold "...I'm not _in_ your team. Consider me...an advisor of sorts"

She had a point, it was good to know he'd have some help. Lucia wasn't exactly a team player, she could get way too competitive and wasn't afraid of playing dirty, so there was a chance having her on his side would backfire, but if she behaved she could be of use.

Lucia seemed to sense what Sisyphus was thinking. She sighed, surely having a rather condescending look behind that blindfold of hers. "Don't get me wrong: you're going to do all the work. I'll just be your assistant. Hell, I won't even have a piece on the board.

You're on your own, it's just that you will...you will have someone holding your back so you don't crash and burn. Think of it like that"

Despite the flippant tone, there was a sympathetic facet in her voice. She did mean the part about helping him and supporting him, and even if she wasn't going to be useful, some encouragement would be nice. It was the least she could do.

 **Lucia has appointed herself as your assistant.**

 **You feel a faint bond forming between you and Lucia**

 ** _Thou art I... and I am thou... Thou hast established a new bond..._**

 ** _You shall be blessed when creating Personas of the Star Arcana._**

As soon as that happened, Lucia gasped slightly, frowning. "What the hell...?"

"Uh, Lucia? I think we just established a Social Link"

"But that's impossible! I shouldn't be able to be one of your..." Lucia's voice trailed away while she calmed down, until she finally cleared her throat and smoothed the dress over her knees "A-Anyways...just curiosity, which one am I?"

"The Star arcana. What does it mean?"

"It means things are going to be less predictable than I thought they'd be. Funny...and here I thought watching the game would be a snooze fest" she tilted her head "I thought it was impossible for you to form a Social Link with someone who is not from that universe. Guess I was wrong"

"I know that already! The assistant from the Velvet Room didn't come from that universe and I got a Social Link with them"

"Is that so?" Lucia was silent for a moment "Anyways, since I'm your assistant now I should start doing my job. Here, allow me give you a tip:

Be more assertive"

"I think I'm rather assertive—"

"No, you aren't! Look back at all the conversations your piece had. In how many of them your piece started the conversation?" Sisyphus wasn't even able to answer before Lucia pointed at him with her finger "One! Just one conversation.

You won't win this game if you go pussyfooting around. You need to take action, Sisyphus! Grab the bull by the horns, throw it to the floor, look at it at the eyes and make sure it knows who is in charge! Got it?"

"Got it..." she wasn't wrong, everyone else had started the conversations, and he wasn't going to get anywhere if he didn't make sure he was in charge. The problem was that he wasn't sure how.

Before Lucia could give some other advice, the tea parlor acquired a strange atmosphere. It was as if a comforting yet strange aura had seeped into the place, making Sisyphus both want to run away and relax at the same time. Both Lucia and Sisyphus turned their heads to the empty armchair on the other side of the table, where the opponent was supposed to appear.

And he did appear. Slowly, a sorcerer appeared in the armchair, as if he was formed by particles that had been formerly floating in the air nearby. He looked rather out of place in the otherwise sophisticated tea parlor. He was rather tall and lanky, his grizzled hair looked more like a mane, thick and long enough to get to his shoulder blades, and his clothes were tattered and without any bright colors. He looked more like a vagrant than like a sorcerer.

The man scratched his head, looking around meekly. "...Ho...How are you?" he asked. Although his voice was clear and strong, he was behaving more like someone who had no idea why he was there.

"Greetings, Cornio. Welcome to the Hopeful Star" Lucia said, bowing slowly and rather pretentiously "I'm sure you remember my name, don't you?"

"Miss Lucia" Cornio dared to give a small smile. Smiling made him look younger and calmer, as if a weight on his shoulders had been taken away for a moment "Thanks for letting me be here"

"Don't mention it" Lucia turned her head towards Sisyphus "Here's your opponent today. This is Cornio, a novice, just like you. Don't underestimate him"

Cornio grimaced for a moment before plastering a rather awkward smile on his face. After taking a moment to gather his resolve, breathing deeply and squaring his shoulders, Cornio looked at Sisyphus straight to the eyes. He couldn't allow himself look vulnerable when talking to his opponent, after all. "You must be Sisyphus" he said slowly, appraising Sisyphus. Somehow, he looked at much more ease dealing with Sisyphus than with Lucia, if only because he looked more confident now.

"...I am"

"I'm Cornio, and I'll be your opponent. Is that okay?" Well, not so confident.

 _...rather meek, for a witch. I'm not sure about all this._ It wasn't like Sisyphus could protest and call it off, though. This game was his chance to get the best timeline possible. If it meant to deal with Cornio, then so be it. At least it would mean Cornio could be an easy foe. Someone like him wouldn't be able to create the necessary obstacles for this to be a difficult challenge, the game would be over in no time.

"Have you done something like this before?"

Cornio grinned naively "This is the first time I'm a game master! It wasn't easy to create this story, but I'm ready to challenge you. Just because you and I are on different sides doesn't mean we can't be friends, right?" he extended his hand over the board, looking at Sisyphus with the same hopeful look a child would have when introducing himself to a new friend. That was rather unusual, as far as Sisyphus knew. Witches weren't exactly the type to have sportsmanship towards their opponents, unless there was some sort of big ulterior motive. _I can't trust this guy. He must have some sort of trap prepared_ Sisyphus mused while he shook hands with Cornio.

"I guess? I'm not really into making friends right now"

Lucia acted immediately. She grabbed Cornio's hand and pushed it towards him hurriedly, waving with the other at Sisyphus. "Nevermind that!"

"...what? What did I say wrong?" the reaction caught Sisyphus by surprise, it was way too strong, even more in response to such a simple statement.

Lucia buried her face in her hands. "...the game hasn't even started and I already have a headache"

"What do you mean?" Sisyphus whispered to her.

"I better start doing some damage control here" Lucia removed her hands from her face, getting closer to Sisyphus "Look, let me tell you something: he'll try to get under your skin, or at least mislead you. Got it?"

That made sense. Anyone would expect such thing. "Now give you my second tip:

You're going to need several Social Links. Trust me, you'll need the power boost"

"So...Social Links are for powers?"

"Personas are divided by arcanas. The stronger the Social Link is, the more powerful the Personas in the Velvet Room will be, and since you're going to fight alone for the first one or two dungeons...you're going to need to be strong enough to survive by yourself"

That explained almost nothing! _Dungeons?_ But the core of the message was clear. "Got it"

"Cornio is not the kind of player that takes his time idly. Focus on Social Links before his onslaught is ready, because later you may not have time to do it"

 _It would be easier if I knew how to make the links stronger_.

-ooooo-

 _...I'm not sure I like this._

Cornio watched Sisyphus and Lucia confer on their strategy. He couldn't hear a thing they were saying, but he wasn't worried. He was more...uneasy than worried. Lucia was okay, not the kindest or most considerate person, but she was a friend and someone he trusted.

The other witch, or sorcerer, whatever he was supposed to call them...he was different, and not in a good way. There was something about him that was off, very off. Not that he himself was normal or stable.

Trying to push those thoughts away of his mind, Cornio leaned forward and softly touched the rim of the board, looking at his hand with discomfort. _I shouldn't have come here._ Cornio knew the board and its world in every conceivable way possible. All the pieces in front of him not only represented people. Those pieces also could represent places, events, every single thing that could happen in the Underground. As the game master, he had control of what could happen in the Underground, while all Sisyphus could do was play along with everything he said and did. After all, the game master was in charge of the story, no matter how dark, complicated or cruel it could be. Sisyphus, on the other hand, had ways to direct the story in some directions, but it'd be difficult for him to change the fate of the people inside the world.

Having control wasn't all the game master needed. Game masters also needed to understand absolutely everything about the universe they were dealing with, and that was something Cornio exceled in. He knew the hopes and dreams of most of the monsters in the Underground, what their wishes and personalities were, and what exactly could break them down. Theoretically he could push anyone to do whatever he wanted, and so far, it had all gone like he had thought it'd go.

He had been the one who created the timeline and the game board, after all. Not that it made him happy to play with everyone's lives, if there was any other way to solve this all, he would have taken it gladly. This wasn't going to be pretty or fun, but he had to do it.

Cornio had a few plans in mind already, challenges he could use against Sisyphus, as well as a couple mysteries to muddle up the story, and while he wasn't sure how well mixing Shadows into the universe would go, it wasn't like he could back down now.

 _I can't quit now. This has been going for long enough._

Damn it, he was having second thoughts again. To try to gather resolve again, Cornio put his hand into his pocket and touched the only object he had: a firefly brooch. As long as he had it, he'd be okay.

The one that wouldn't be okay was Sisyphus, apparently. He was starting to look like he had been given some very bad news. "Will you be okay?" Cornio asked.

"Yeah! I'll be okay! Don't worry about me" he replied, a bit more forcefully than it was necessary. _This is going to be bad._

Forget about Sisyphus. Focus on the game. Try to suppress the guilt of having to try to ruin the fates and lives of hundreds of monsters if Sisyphus doesn't counter anything Cornio did.

-ooooo-

Who was Cornio trying to fool, pretending to be concerned for him? That was what Sisyphus wondered. He didn't believe for a second that Cornio had asked that because he was worried, it was more likely it was because he was trying to find any weak points to attack.

"You don't trust me, do you?" he asked.

"...to be honest I don't" Sisyphus answered.

Cornio looked disapprovingly at Lucia, who merely shrugged. "Sisyphus, I'm not your enemy. All I ask is that you understand that"

That actually sounded a bit more sincere, Sisyphus wasn't able what to respond. _...what are you planning?_ "I-I understand that..." That was true, he did, it was just that he wasn't convinced Cornio really was willing to have a friendly stance.

That simple statement seemed to have been enough, though. Whether Sisyphus wanted to admit it or not, part of him did want to believe Cornio was being honest, and since it seemed Social Links required both parties to have a certain amount of interest in each other...

 **You're now acquaintances with your opponent.**

 **You feel a faint bond forming between you and Cornio**

 ** _Thou art I... and I am thou... Thou hast established a new bond..._**

 ** _You shall be blessed when creating Personas of the Death Arcana._**

...it sparked the Social Link. _Whatever works, works_. Sisyphus certainly wasn't going to complain if he had even the smallest advantage in the game. He was taking rather seriously what Lucia had said about the need to start as many Social Links as possible before things got too tough to focus on those.

"Okay, enough of this. Let's start the game already" Lucia said

"Now? I..." Cornio scratched the back of his head before sighing "Okay, let's do this"

And so the game started. Cornio grabbed a piece and, after a few seconds of hesitation, he moved it forward, making the story commence.

-ooooo-

Sans drummed his phalanges against the frame of the machine, watching the inexorable moment arrive. In matter of seconds, they'd all reach the point the timeline started to heavily distort. "five...four...three...two...one..."

The game started. As soon as the clock indicated they were all in the distorted part of the timeline, Sans looked around, but there was absolutely nothing strange. Nothing was imploding, there were no black holes anywhere, it all looked rather...rather normal.

"welp"

-ooooo-

Ciruel ducked when crossing the doorway of the shed, the fake antlers were too large for him to walk without crouching when passing there. Papyrus hadn't returned yet, but Ciruel couldn't afford waiting anymore. He had waited an hour, and that was enough. After making sure to close the door behind him, the man started walking towards Waterfall, to the Hidden Village located in the depths of that area.

-ooooo-

Frisk continued climbing Mt. Ebott. Somehow, they were late. They knew they should have gotten to the Underground some time ago, but there had been many delays. They had gotten lost somehow. Their feet started to hurt. They felt compelled to sit in the shadows until the sun wasn't beating down so hard on the mountain. Those were al small annoyances that, when added, made them be arriving to the mountain cave too late.

Right in from of them there was the hole where they were supposed to fall down into. They knew they'd be relatively safe when falling, the golden flowers would stop their fall without hurting them. Frisk wasn't sure how exactly that was possible, but they weren't going to complain.

After taking a moment to peer down into the abyss, Frisk stepped back a few steps before running forward and jumping in.

-ooooo-

Alphonse pretended to read into the book that contained all the possible Personas a Velvet Room guest could create. There was something bothering them, it felt like something was wrong... "Master, can I ask a question?"

Igor turned his head around, acknowledging and giving permission with a glance. The assistant closed the book and put it aside. "Why is our guest aligned with the Aeon arcana? I thought only those of the Fool arcana could have the power of the Wild Card"

"It's an...unusual situation" Igor conceded "But there's an explanation for that.

It's true _Sisyphus the witch_ signed the contract, and indeed, he's of the Fool arcana. However, the _person_ who has a Persona is different. It could be said they're the same person, yet at the same time they're not _exactly_ the same person. Do you understand?"

Alphonse mulled it for a moment. "I'm not sure I do"

"A person isn't defined by an arcana for their entire lives. They change, according to their experiences and mindsets, passing through most if not all the possible arcanas during their lives.

Syphus the piece is no more than the part of our guest's soul that represents the Aeon arcana. Do you understand now?"

"...I think I do" Alphonse stared at the inactive cogs lining the walls "What does that imply? What'll happen to our guest?"

"Our duty is to aid our guest to fulfill their task. Other than that, the only ones who can decide what'll happen to them...is our guest himself, or in this case, our guest and his piece.

No matter what happens, we shall have to accept it, Alphonse, no matter how difficult it may be"

Alphonse nodded, pensive. They had some faith nothing outright anomalous would happen, but there was always a chance the guest would screw up in such a way the contract would be broken. What'd be the consequences of that? They didn't want to find out.

 _Come on, Sisyphus, don't screw up. Please._

-ooooo-

When Syphus was able to understand what he was seeing, he noticed he was back where he had made the SAVE point, and Monster Kid was nearby. "...me see around again" he said, examining all the paths.

"Uh, kid, you don't have to do this" Syphus said slowly, still a bit dazed. He remembered every single second from before he died, but he didn't feel any pain, nor anything that indicated he had crashed onto water and rocks in what was technically just a few seconds before.

"Dude, are you sure? I can find the way, just give me a moment"

"It's fine. Come on, let's return to the town" after the death the perspective of passing through Waterfall and looking for the village had been greatly soured. Maybe he should return later, after he had calmed down enough to not to think about his death without clenching his fists.

"Okay...let's go before the patrollers come around here" Monster Kid requested, starting the walk, thankfully this time slow enough for Syphus to follow easily. Syphus took a deep breath, shaking off the daze, and stepped forward.

 **The game has started.**

 ** _Thou art I... and I am thou... Thou hast established a new bond..._**

 ** _You shall be blessed when creating Personas of the Aeon Arcana._**

"What the..."

"What're you waiting for? Let's go!" Monster Kid called from the distance. It was unlikely the Social Link was with Monster Kid, it just didn't fit very well. Then who exactly was it with? There was no one else around!

A bit confused and at a loss of words, Syphus hurried to get to Monster Kid's side, and together started the trek back to Snowdin Town.

-ooooo-

At least the pool of oily ink stopped growing.

It had by now covered half of the floor of the room, and anyone who looked into it would feel like it was some sort of void, leading into places one shouldn't be able to see. The black oil didn't seem like a simple stain anymore. It had grown in volume, looking more like globs than anything else.

There was something unsettling about it, though. The ink bubbled and moved as if there was something right underneath the surface, struggling to get out. Slowly, on the edge of the pool of ink, a large sticky hand emerged.

It was as if it was made of nothing else but ink. Slowly, a rather large arm extended behind the arm, until the blob showed a blue mask. It was what could be considered the most basic Shadow, emerging from the collective unconscious of the world.

It didn't mean it could just leave the pool of oil, though. After a moment where the Shadow tried to leave the pool, without any success, slowly the Shadow sunk back into the ink until it was as if nothing had been there.

Despite the world being filled with magic, Shadows couldn't simply roam anywhere. Shadows weren't meant to exist anywhere except in the collective unconscious or in the souls of people. It was true there was a way into the world, but not any Shadow could go through it.

Only particularly strong Shadows, Shadows having an ego almost as defined as any human or monster's, would be able to cross into the Underground.

It was matter of time before more like those arrived.

 **Prologue: Setting Up the Pieces – END**

 **Act I: Opening**

 **CHECK IN FIVE MOVES**

* * *

 **SOCIAL LINKS:**

 **Fool - ? - RANK 0**

 **Magician - ? - RANK 0**

 **Priestess - ? - RANK 0**

 **Empress - Toriel - RANK 1**

 **Emperor - ? - RANK 0**

 **Hierophant - ? - RANK 0**

 **Lovers - ? - RANK 0**

 **Chariot - ? - RANK 0**

 **Justice - ? - RANK 0**

 **Hermit - ? - RANK 0**

 **Fortune - ? - RANK 0**

 **Strength - ? - RANK 0**

 **Hanged Man - ? - RANK 0**

 **Death - Cornio - RANK 1**

 **Temperance - ? - RANK 0**

 **Devil - ? - RANK 0**

 **Tower - ? - RANK 0**

 **Star - Lucia - RANK 1**

 **Moon - ? - RANK 0**

 **Sun - Papyrus - RANK 1**

 **Judgment - ? - RANK 0**

 **Aeon - Syphus - RANK 1**

 **Jester - Alphonse - RANK 1**


	6. Act I - START - What Can the Queen Do?

**Act I: Opening**

 **START**

During the way back to Snowdin Syphus was rather silent, much to Monster Kid's displeasure. At first the feathered reptile had seemed friendly and patient, but he hadn't said a word since they started walking back, no matter what was said. It was rather awkward and a little bit unsettling, and the way Syphus frowned and narrowed his eyes all the time didn't help. The mood was stuffy and foreboding, Monster Kid felt compelled to look behind himself every once in a while, just to see if Syphus was still there.

Fearing his failure to lead Syphus to the right point had made him angry, Monster Kid chuckled nervously. ".Yo, can I ask you a favor?"

"Hm?"

"Please don't tell anyone I was taking you there, dude" Monster Kid turned his head around, Syphus seemed to be paying attention "She wants me to keep it secret"

"Is that so? Nice"

"...you're not listening to me" the kid muttered, discouraged from talking any longer. Trying to take Syphus there was looking more and more like a bad decision. This was definitely something he'd not tell Ananas later. At the time it had seemed like a good idea – knowing about the cowboy hat was a sign he knew Ananas, right? – but now it felt like breaking the promise to Ananas had been a horrible idea. Maybe it was good he had gotten confused and didn't take Syphus there!

Syphus indeed hadn't been listening. He was aware Monster Kid had said something, but he was too busy taking a gander at his memories. Something had changed and it explained the strange Social Link that had been created not too long before. _So the game started..._ As a piece, Syphus knew he was fated to only be an extension of his master's will, and therefore anything he Sisyphus the witch wished him to do was bound to happen. For the moment there were two instructions:

One: Create Social Links, or find a way to improve the ones he had started already.

Two: Find Frisk.

That second instruction was completely new, though. Had the child fallen into the Underground already? While Syphus was busy wondering that, a sudden bright flash blinded him momentarily, making him stumble. The flash vanished almost immediately, making Syphus see dots. After blinking a few times to clear his sight, the piece noticed something had changed:

On the wall there was a bright blue door, identical to the one in the Ruins, the door that was supposed to lead to the Velvet Room. Syphus stared at it in awe, unsure if he should go ahead and try to open it. "Hey! Over here! Let's go!" Monster Kid called, walking back towards Syphus and completely ignoring the blue door. Either that or he couldn't see it.

Syphus noticed he had been staring with his mouth open, and closed it while glancing at Monster Kid. Must have looked very stupid, blankly watching a random wall, as far as Monster Kid was concerned. "Uh, yeah, about that...I think I'll stay around here for a while"

"Fine. See ya" Monster Kid sounded a bit relieved to leave Syphus behind, but the piece didn't pay attention to that. Once he was sure Monster Kid was far enough, he extended his hand and touched the door. It felt smooth, polished, completely different from the rocks that formed the cavern walls. After a moment of hesitation, Syphus pushed the door open, disappearing from the universe without being noticed.

Monster Kid continued his way towards Snowdin, not paying much attention, although along the way he encountered a deer monster, walking into Waterfall. Who else but a deer monster would have such large antlers? Ciruel didn't acknowledge Monster Kid, either.

-ooooo-

Indeed, that was the Velvet Room, but there was something critically different: Igor was gone. Instead Alphonse was sitting in his usual armchair, looking straight at Syphus. It was as if he had expected the piece to arrive right at that moment "So this is that place..."

"Welcome to the Velvet Room" Alphonse said, extending his hand. There was a blue key in it. "This is the key to this place. As our esteemed guest, you shall be allowed to enter anytime"

"Neato" Syphus mumbled, taking the key and examining it closely. It was small and blue, of the same color than so many things in the Velvet Room, but knowing how things didn't seem as straightforward as they should be, Syphus expected the key to be more than just a key.

"We set up several doors in the Underground" Alphonse informed "Once you obtain some Personas come back and we'll work on fusing them. It's in your best interest to make use of our services" For some reason, the last few words were said in a rather ominous tone. Syphus instinctively stepped back a bit "I'm not threatening you, it's merely a statement"

"...please don't say that again" Syphus motioned with his head towards the empty spot where Igor usually was "Where's Igor?"

Alphonse glanced there for a moment "My master – wait, give me a moment" Alphonse took a deep breath and leaned back on his armchair, relaxing considerably. Since they were alone they felt like they could let their true personality shine a bit more "Igor isn't here. It's for the better, I'm not sure he'd allow me to give you this too"

The attendant took out of his pocket three tickets, crudely made on common paper and written with bad calligraphy, sliding them towards Syphus. The piece took one of them, trying to read the text. "What are these supposed to be?"

"I call these 'The Velvet Room tickets'" Alphonse grinned enigmatically "Since we placed doors in several places of the Underground, I thought these could come useful to you.

I'll allow you to use the Velvet Room as a hub of sorts to arrive to other places"

"That's great!" It could actually be useful in the right circumstances! But something as convenient as this couldn't come free, or be as good as it seemed to be at first glance. Syphus frowned, giving up in reading the scrawls on the tickets "What's the catch?"

"Wow. Someone offers you a gift and you reply with that? That's a bit rude" Alphonse tilted their head "The catch is that I'll only give you three tickets. The Velvet Room isn't a commuting station, Syphus"

That seemed like a rather harmless caveat. Even if it was just three times for the whole game, it could come rather useful, as long as he used those wisely. Or maybe... "I want to use one right now"

Alphonse raised their eyebrows. "To where?"

"The Ruins" It was a good starting point to look for Frisk. Since the Velvet Room door was near the golden flowers grave, he wouldn't have to deal with Royal Guard 047 and try to sneak past him. Besides, if the flowers weren't crushed, it meant he could wait for Frisk to fall down, and that'd be all. It was a perfect plan. Sure, it was enabled by Alphonse's suspiciously convenient offer, but who was he to look at the gift horse in the mouth?

 **You received 2 Velvet Room Tickets**

Alphonse stood up and opened the Velvet Room door, showing what was behind it. The purple stone walls of the Ruins showed it was true, there was the offer. "Just so you know, since the Velvet Room is in a different plane of existence no time has passed in the Underground. It's like teleportation! Cool, right?"

"It is. I wish I had more tickets" Syphus peeked outside the room. There was no one around.

"Get going already, you have someone to meet" Alphonse pushed Syphus out of the Velvet Room, grinning impishly "By the way, don't tell Igor about the tickets! I broke one or two rules by giving them to you" then, standing up at full height and looking as serious as possible, they made their best imitation of Igor's voice "Until then, farewell"

Bam! The door was closed. Alphonse leaned against the door, slumping slightly against it and sighing. They felt guilty. They knew Syphus was trusting them without any question, and while they were glad about that, at the same time it made them uncomfortable.

"How did it go, Alphonse?" Igor asked, having appeared in his seat without warning. Alphonse jumped in the air a bit, immediately stammering in surprise.

"M-Master! I-I-I...when did you get back here?!"

"Calm down, Alphonse. You have done nothing wrong" Igor's grin faltered a bit, which was rather unusual. He closed his eyes, shaking his head slightly. While he didn't approve Alphonse's insubordination and extensive meddling into the guest's affairs, he understood _why_ they were doing that. "Are you sure you're doing the right thing?"

"I must do it. It's the right thing to do" Alphonse murmured, looking at the floor.

"Tell me about the person that's giving you instructions. Are they someone you should trust without question?" Igor's voice had gained severity, making Alphonse raise their head and nod emphatically.

"I can trust them. I know what I'm doing, master. It'll all be okay"

Igor's interlocked fingers got a bit tighter. Alphonse was a rather kindhearted person, he felt it when he created the vessel for the SOUL, and such kindheartedness could be rather harmful if he poured their trust into the wrong person. Now that the assistant was trying to go behind Igor's back to do this stuff...a warning could be a good idea. "Remember to be careful. You can't know for sure if our guest is the kind of person you think he is" Alphonse wasn't like the other attendants that usually worked in the Velvet Room, their existence was radically different.

The warning wasn't well received, though. Alphonse narrowed their eyes, looking away "I know what I'm doing"

It was useless to try to argue with someone unwilling to listen.

-ooooo-

Royal Guard 047 wandered again in front of the fence, but his gait didn't have the usual firmness everyone who had seen do his job complimented him for. It was so different the few tourist guides and the couple guards who had passed nearby had asked him if there was something wrong.

There was nothing outright wrong, but he wasn't able to focus on his job. That snake-faced monster he had talked with a couple hours before had brought up thoughts Royal Guard 047 had managed to bury in his memories long ago, but now they were repeating over and over in his head. He was sure: there had been someone inside that room under renovations.

Of course anyone would get curious about it. One day, when Toriel had been away, Royal Guard 047 had gone to the door of the room and tried to open it, and when that didn't work, he put his auditory membrane against the wood of the door. Nothing sounded: not even a gasp, or anything that could indicate someone was inside and trying not to make any noise. As the guard was someone who prided himself on his acute sense of hearing, he didn't question it at all: no one was in there.

What had been that song from before, then? He was completely sure a little girl had been singing in there. There was only one conclusion: Queen Toriel was hiding something.

"Next time I see him I'm going to kick him in the shins" Royal Guard 047 grumbled without really meaning it, shaking his head. Why did he have to remind him of this? He didn't want to mistrust Toriel, but now...now he felt the need to find out more, if only to convince himself the queen had done nothing wrong. If a human girl had been once there, where was she right now? Was she okay?

...she wouldn't have harmed her, would she? The guard immediately chastised himself for even thinking that, and did something he hadn't done ever since the moment he had been assigned to the fence in the Ruins: he left his spot way before it was time for him to leave.

Queen Toriel was nowhere to be seen right when Royal Guard 047 entered the house. The guard stopped in the entrance, closing his eye and listening carefully. It sounded like there was only one person in the house. Was it the Queen? It sounded like the person in the house was in one of the rooms in the hallway.

He felt he should go check, but his upbringing and general moral sense stopped him from going to a place he shouldn't mess with. "Your Majesty? Are you here?" he called, figuring that seeing where the queen was – if it was her – was enough. After all, he had come here to talk with her.

Indeed, it had been Toriel, and she came out of the room at the end of the hallway, the room supposedly under renovations, but she didn't look at him. It seemed she hadn't heard him. Taking advantage of that, the guard stepped forward and entered the hallway, his armored greaves clanking.

"My!" Toriel gasped, startled, just when she had been locking the door of the room under renovations, dropping the key by accident. When she saw Royal Guard 047 her expression calmed down "I'm sorry. Did you need something?"

"...Your Majesty, I have something to ask you" if he didn't ask it now, when would he? "Can we go somewhere we can talk in private?"

"Of course. Please, follow me" Toriel smiled serenely and picked up the key. Royal Guard 047 noticed she was behaving rather naturally. It was possible she had acted surprised just because she hadn't been expecting anyone to be there, not because she was doing something wrong. The way she moved with fluidity, without showing any signs of being tense, it was all the behavior of someone who was doing nothing reprehensible...or _thought_ she was doing nothing reprehensible. The guard slapped himself lightly. _No! Stop that! Queen Toriel knows best for everyone. I shouldn't doubt her._

"Are you okay?" Toriel asked from the door, eyebrows raised. The guard's reaction hadn't gone unnoticed, apparently. Royal Guard 047 nodded briskly and went to her side, the two of them going towards one of the many viewing platforms that gave a great place to watch most of the purple buildings in the Ruins.

None of them noticed the door of the room under renovations had been left incorrectly locked.

-ooooo-

 _Perfect!_ The golden flowers were still intact; Frisk hadn't fallen down yet! Feeling the excitement bubbling in his chest, Syphus held back a grin and looked upwards at the hole in the ceiling. Having a plan made him feel like nothing would stop him, like finding a way to shatter the Barrier was actually a doable goal and not a flight of fantasy only an idiot would have.

Frisk's help was the first step towards the goal, as far as he knew, after all, the child always played a big part in every other timeline. They'd be of help. Of course, it wasn't as easy as strolling to Frisk and saying 'hey, so, want to help me shatter the Barrier?' Earning the child's trust was vital for the mission, and that was something much easier said than done. Stopping Frisk's fall should help get their approval, right?

Syphus leant against the rocky wall and stared at the bed of golden flowers, twitching with impatience. The wait was stressful, in a way. It was true Syphus had watched the events of the timelines countless times, but the advantages he could have gained from that were countered by the many unusual properties this so-called 'hopeful timeline' had. The fact he also couldn't measure at what time the important events would happen didn't help, too. While Syphus could recite many, many things about how the Underground events would develop, he couldn't know exactly when they'd happen...if they happened at all.

Narrowing his eyes, Syphus stepped away of the wall and peeked into the passageway towards the Ruins. Flowey was still nowhere to be seen. That was worrying and encouraging at the same time. Was he watching right now, scheming his own plans for this timeline?

While Syphus was doing distracted looking into the next room, a sudden whooshing noise echoed behind him. He didn't even have time to turn around before the nasty, dreadful sound of something crashing against the ground resonated. "Oh, fuck" Syphus muttered, wincing, when he noticed the person among the golden flowers.

He had barely stepped forward when Frisk raised their head, noting the strange monster's presence. The child gasped and immediately scooted towards the opposite direction, they seemed to be unharmed. At times like this Syphus really wished the illusion Lucia had created wasn't so unsettling and weird. Not everyone would take in stride a snake-headed monster with feathers and claws. Syphus raised his hands in what he hoped was a harmless gesture. "I'm not going to hurt you. I'm not—I'll stay over here, see?"

Reliable. Soothing. Someone that can be trusted. That's what he needed to be now.

Frisk wasn't feeling like Syphus was a dependable person right now, though. They stared intently at the unknown monster, not understanding what was this drastic change to something that was routine to them already. "My name is Syphus, I'm just a monster living in the Underground. Don't be scared, I won't hurt you" It was true Lucia had said he needed to be assertive and a tad aggressive, but in his opinion that wasn't a good idea right now.

For a moment neither of them moved, until Frisk decided to take the initiative. Slowly and without looking away, Frisk stood up. They haltingly closed the distance between Syphus and them, the distrust in their face was almost hurtful.

"...who are you?" Frisk asked once they were close enough.

"I, uh, I said I'm Syphus" he replied although he had the feeling Frisk meant something deeper than a mere inquiry for a name "Do you need help? I could guide you through the Underground, you should be okay wi—"

"No" Frisk's tone was scathing. Syphus grimaced, this was not a good start. Having noticed Syphus's hurt expression, Frisk shook their head and lightened up their voice "I can go by myself"

"Are you sure? The Underground is no place for a human, there could be trouble and—"

"I'll be fine" Frisk smiled forcibly and walked towards the purple arch that'd lead to the Ruins. Once they got there, Syphus stepped forward to follow Frisk from a distance, but the child ran back, gesturing Syphus to stay put. "No"

"...alright" _So much for making a good first impression. High five, me._

After asking Syphus to stay behind, Frisk returned to the arch and peered inside. There was no one in the small clearing. Not letting that deter them, Frisk walked inside and stopped just to the side of the circle of sunlight, hopeful. Nothing happened. Syphus, who had stealthily approached until he could see inside the room, waited to see what'd happen.

It took a couple minutes for Frisk to realize there was more anomalies to this timeline than an unknown monster's presence. They paced around the circle of light, nothing happened. A bit discouraged, the child decided to wait for the next event they knew would happen. Anytime now Toriel would come by and find them. It was something that, no matter how many times it happened, always made them happy, so they looked forward to meeting her, smiling with anticipation. They looked at the other side of the room, at the arch towards the Ruins.

Nobody came.

The more time passed, the less cheerful Frisk looked. Dragging their feet, they went to the wall of the cave and stood against it, seemingly counting the blades of grass on the ground. Syphus wasn't sure how much time passed, it could have been just ten minutes, it could have been an hour. All he knew was that waiting any longer wasn't going to be of any help, neither for Frisk nor for him.

Syphus slowly advanced, until he was just a couple steps away from Frisk. "Are you okay?" Frisk didn't reply. The way Frisk refused to look at him, or even to talk...it reminded Syphus of the first time he had met Frisk, forty-six years before, in a timeline that didn't exist anymore in the fabric of the universe. It had been more or less the same, and the way he had managed to get Frisk to talk was...to earn their trust. "I could take you through the Ruins"

"...are you the caretaker of the Ruins?" Frisk mutedly inquired.

"No, I'm just one visitor more. The Ruins get a decent amount of traffic from outside, you know!"

That got Frisk to raise their head. "That's strange..."

"It isn't so strange. The entrances to the Ruins are wide open, anyone can come in or out, anytime. That's how I got here" Syphus shrugged livelily "People like abandoned purple places, I guess! We monsters are very weird"

"I thought the Ruins were abandoned—" Frisk said to themselves before realizing they may be talking a bit too loudly. Syphus pretended to have not heard that part. He understood very well why Frisk was so confused, it was rather discomforting to see such drastic differences between what they were used to and what was actually happening, even worse when they didn't know _why_ it was happening.

"There are crowds of monsters around and the Ruins are like a labyrinth. How about I guide you to a safe spot? Would you like that?" Syphus smiled. Frisk didn't seem very convinced, they were frowning. The child was practically irradiating distrust.

"Do you mean out of the Ruins?"

"No, I don't mean that. I mean...uuuuh..." would it be a good idea to appeal to something familiar to Frisk? It was worth a try "I know someone who could help you. She's the kindest Boss Monster you could ever hope to meet" If anything, Frisk would be a way to get Toriel to talk about other humans.

The mention of Toriel got Frisk's attention immediately, their eyes brightened up. Encouraged by the reaction, Syphus pointed at the way towards the Ruins. "I can take you there! Stay close to me and you should have no trouble at all"

Frisk was silent for a while, thinking if they should deviate from the established routine and trust someone who clearly didn't belong in the usual events. They had no way to know if Syphus had good intentions, or if he planned to kill Frisk and take their SOUL. Despite the nagging feeling of alarm they felt, did they really have any other option? If Flowey and Toriel's absences meant the timeline was drastically different to usual, wouldn't it be better to accept any help they could get?

"...okay"

 **Frisk reluctantly decided to give you a chance.**

 **You feel a faint bond forming between you and Frisk.**

 ** _Thou art I... And I am thou... Thou hast established a new bond... Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Fool Arcana_**

Frisk extended their hand. Syphus pretended not to see it, not wanting to ruin the illusion of his form, and quickly went to the passageway. Frisk stared at their hand for a moment before following him. The fact he hadn't even tried to take their hand didn't exactly encourage them to trust him. To be frank, they planned to leave him behind as soon as possible.

Royal Guard 047 wasn't anywhere nearby, much to Syphus' relief. He didn't have to make a distraction! Frisk followed him, with a carefully neutral expression.

"Okay, get over this fence. This area is restricted, so we need to leave as soon as possible" Syphus climbed the fence with agility, and waited for Frisk to imitate him.

The child stared at the fence that was just a bit taller than them. "Why were you in a restricted area?"

"...oh. Right. I was curious what was over there" The lie was satisfying enough for Frisk, who simply acknowledged the excuse with a nod.

Syphus had said the truth, the Ruins really were open to the public. Although the usual population of Froggits, Whimsuns and other familiar monsters did continue filling the place, there were other people walking around, people Frisk remembered seeing in areas like Waterfall and Hotland. It was also true there were guards, too. While Syphus distracted them with chatter and senseless questions, Frisk took advantage of those moments to sneak past. Syphus also insisted on hiding Frisk when someone was passing nearby, even the most harmless monsters. All the puzzles Frisk remembered from the thousands and thousands of times they had traversed the Ruins were gone, too, all that remained of them were platforms and a couple spots where the floor was still crumbling away.

For the first time in years and years of continuous repeating timelines, Frisk felt disoriented. A relatively familiar place felt like unexplored terrain now, it almost felt like the very first time they had fallen into the Underground.

Seeing Toriel's house gave them some hope, meeting someone they loved would be of help. Syphus hurried to get to the door, telling Frisk to wait a moment. The feathered reptile peeked inside, listening thoroughly. If there were any monsters in the house besides Toriel, Frisk would be immediately found out. Wouldn't everyone, especially the guards, be alert to see anything that could be a human? Once Syphus made sure there was no one inside the house – not even Toriel, much to his displeasure – Frisk was allowed to enter. Everything looked almost like they remembered. Maybe some things looked a bit more disorganized than usual? But it was undoubtedly Toriel's house, and that was enough to make them feel more at ease, although they continued having their guard up near Syphus.

"Here we are! Quite a nice house, isn't it?" he said, smiling encouragingly. Frisk's expression continued to be completely neutral. "There's a room where you can rest in" Syphus pointed to the first door in the hallway "You can stay in there for as long as you need. I'll be here in the living room, so tell me if you need anything"

"Where is Toriel?" Frisk really wanted to call her Mom, it felt odd to say her name.

"...she isn't here. I'm sure she'll be back later" Syphus opened the bedroom door so Frisk could see inside "She should be back soon"

Frisk didn't reply to that. They stepped inside the bedroom, looking around to see if there was anything different here. It was exactly like they remembered it should be like. A bit unnerved by Frisk's lack of trust, Syphus stayed in the hallway. "I know I'm no more than some weird old monster and you have no reason to trust me, but if you ever need help you can count on me, okay?" There was no reply. After a pause, Syphus muttered: "Want me to leave you alone?

"I'd like that" Frisk said immediately. Syphus winced. He knew that he was behaving kinda off, and personally he couldn't blame Frisk for mistrusting him, but part of him couldn't avoid feeling hurt. In the timeline he had lived in before its near-destruction he had gotten along with Frisk to the point of almost considering it a friendship, and the child had come to count on him as an adult figure. The difference with the actual Frisk was jarring and, although Syphus told himself it was to be expected – he truly was no more than a stranger, as far as Frisk was concerned – it still hurt.

"I bet you're hungry. I'll bring you something" Syphus said and went towards the kitchen. He didn't notice Frisk watching him from the doorway, waiting for him to be out of sight. The kitchen looked rather normal, and there was a note pinned on the fridge.

 _'Take anything you wish, dear visitor._

 _-Toriel'_

Having received approval from the owner of the house, Syphus looked inside for anything Frisk could like. There was nothing a child would like, other than a large pie, untouched and fresh. A quick examination showed it to be made of snails. _It's better than nothing!_ After taking a slice for Frisk, Syphus returned to the bedroom.

Frisk wasn't there anymore.

Alarmed, Syphus left the pie slice aside and checked the other doors in the hallway. Toriel's room was locked – maybe since people passed through the house all the time she had started to lock it? It was unlikely Frisk had gotten inside. The next door was the one under renovations, one Syphus _knew_ was locked, so he left it alone. In a moment of panic Syphus looked outside of the house and shouted: "Frisk! Frisk, come back!" The child didn't come. Syphus had been about to go outside and look for Frisk when he remembered there was one other place Frisk could have gone into

Syphus descended the stairs to the basement, jumping over them to be quicker. The sound of wind echoed in the passageway, but there was something else, faint and garbled. After listening for a moment, Syphus thought he distinguished what it was: it was Frisk, near the exit, and they were calling for Flowey. Syphus hurried down the passageway, his steps resonating and alerting the child he was coming closer. The calls stopped, replaced by the pattering sound of a pair of small feet running away. "W-Wait! Frisk, you shouldn't go outside! Wait!"

It was too late. Once Syphus arrived to the room just before the door that led to the snowy areas of the Underground, Frisk was long gone. Catching up with them would be difficult, the child was way ahead of him, and since Syphus hadn't gotten any fitter since following Monster Kid earlier before, it was unlikely he'd ever reach them. Really hoping Frisk would be okay, Syphus returned to the house. _Well that was one resounding failure. So much for being reliable and soothing!_

The situation wasn't all bad, though. Frisk's journey always had the possibility of ending with the Barrier breaking. It was true that without SOULs it'd be unlikely to be that simple, but maybe it was a good idea to let them do their thing, and use Frisk's actions and influence on other monsters to his advantage. Meanwhile, Syphus would make alternative plans, ones that didn't rely on Frisk being successful.

Immersed in those thoughts, Syphus ascended the stairs back into the house right when Toriel was entering the house. "Oh!" she stopped in her tracks when she saw Syphus. After a moment of looking at him, she sighed "Syphus! What a pleasant surprise. Are you going to visit the Ruins again?"

Syphus bowed slightly. Royalty was always tricky to deal with, better safe than sorry. "Yes, queen Toriel"

"Please, go ahead. I'll be around if you need me" she smiled tensely. Despite her cordial tone, she seemed to be in bad mood. Toriel went into her bedroom. The noise of drawers being opened sounded from there.

If there was a time to be assertive, it was now. Be aggressive. Don't take a no for an answer. Make sure to have the upper hand. Sure, Toriel may not be in mood to reveal anything, but he wasn't willing to wait for a later moment. Syphus took a deep breath, steeling himself and making the most no-nonsense allowed face he could make, and positioned himself in front of the open door.

Toriel was picking a cape out of her wardrobe, making the clasps fit on her shoulders. Syphus knocked on her door. "Toriel, we need to talk"

"I'm not in mood to talk, dear" she replied without turning around.

"Sorry, your Majesty, but I mean it: we need to talk"

Toriel made sure the cape was well placed and turned around, again smiling tensely. "Can it wait? It's not that I don't want to talk with you. It's just that I had a rather upsetting conversation with a guard"

"I insist"

The queen ignored that. "You may know him. He's part of the Royal Guard" she sounded pleasant but Syphus got his guard up "He mentioned you. It seems you have been talking with him about some rather...delicate topics?"

Syphus' feathers bristled. "I know it's not easy to talk about but we need to. Please, Toriel, tell me about the humans"

"There hasn't been humans in the Underground since the time my children were alive" she said bluntly, her smile vanishing. It seemed to Syphus she really didn't like to mention such times. It just hurt too much to talk about it "That's all there's to say about the topic"

A different approach could be useful, then. "What's the room under renovations for?"

"It's as the sign reads: a room under renovations" Toriel exited the bedroom, glancing at the end of the hallway "Some visitors spend a long time in the Ruins, so I want to provide them a place to sleep in. Someday it'll be ready"

"If you talked to that guard then you also know there was someone in there once...don't you?" Syphus narrowed his eyes, but Toriel wasn't intimidated. Instead, she unconsciously stood up straighter, looking even taller than she already was.

"I don't like the game you're playing"

"Look, all I want is some answers. I know there must be humans here in the Underground, and if there's someone who knows about them it's you, and only _you_ "

Toriel pressed her hand against her forehead, gritting her teeth slightly. "Young man, I don't have the time to talk about this. Please step aside"

"No! Your Majesty, I need to find them! Please, tell me—"

"I have nothing to tell you!" she shouted, baring her fangs. It was easy to forget that, behind the maternal and soft-spoken air Toriel had, she was the queen for a reason. She wasn't the type to let anyone walk over her, and those who dare to overstep their boundaries would see she wouldn't back down.

Fearing maybe he had overdone his so-called assertiveness, Syphus gulped and stepped back, hunching over, the feathers on his back puffing up underneath his jacket. Toriel didn't hesitate to get out of the bedroom, closing the door behind her and locking it. She walked away, adjusting her crown, but before descending the stairs towards the tunnel to exit the Ruins she sighed.

"...young man, please come with me" she said, going towards the kitchen. Syphus followed her, finding Toriel putting a teapot on the stove and lighting up the appliance with fire magic. While the tea brewed, she opened the cabinets, taking two large teacups. "I'm sorry for shouting at you"

"It's fine, Toriel. I shouldn't have pressured you so much"

Toriel shook her head slightly. "That's no excuse for me to have shouted at you. It's just that humans are a delicate topic these days. I'm sure you're aware of the war declaration, aren't you?"

"Of course I am. Seven SOULs, and no progress on that. Hard not to know about it"

"The more time passes; the more desperate monsters will get. I'm not saying there are humans in the Underground, but if there were any...I don't think they'd survive" _Damn it, Frisk, you just had to go alone, didn't you?_

"Not even if you do something? Toriel, you're the queen. There must be something you can do"

"Being the queen doesn't guarantee people will think the same way I do, young man. I don't want any humans to die, but I fear someone will try to take their SOUL"

"Don't you trust your people?" Syphus wasn't sure exactly how to feel about that. There must be something else the queen can do besides hiding them! What was holding her back?

Toriel took the teapot from the strove, filling the teacups. "Of course I do! But it's better to be safe than sorry. Besides, Asgore isn't being of help. He refuses to back down on the war declaration no matter what, and I'm tired of trying to convince him"

The queen took the teacups to the table, finding the slice of snail pie on there. She turned her head around, glancing at Syphus with a questioning stare, who just shrugged apologetically. Toriel sat down, taking the slice for herself. "I'm at a loss of what to do. I wish our peaceful world hadn't reached this state...but there's nothing to be done.

The best we can do is endure it with a smile and try to keep it from getting any _worse_ , because it won't get any _better_ "

 **You feel you have seen a glimpse of Toriel's conflicted despair**

 **The Toriel Social Link has reached Rank 2!**

 **Your power to create Personas of the Empress Arcana has grown! **

Despite her words, she wasn't smiling at all. The two stayed in silence for a moment. A heavy atmosphere filled the room, brought by the topic and by Toriel's feelings of uselessness. Should he continue talking about it? It was clearly something that made Toriel uncomfortable, but he felt he didn't have enough information yet. "Did you try talking this with the king already?"

"Of course I did. Asgore didn't listen to me" Toriel furrowed her brow "He has his reasons to continue this foolish war, and I can't overturn the declaration. He started it, he ends it. That's how it is" her voice was blunt, carrying a request: 'Let's stop talking about this'.

"I'm sorry, Toriel. I didn't mean to bring up these touchy topics"

"Let's drink our tea, shall we?" Toriel smiled tiredly, taking her teacup and sipping the content. Judging by how she grimaced and swallowed with hesitance, the tea wasn't very good. "My! I must have done something wrong"

Syphus pushed his tea away without even trying it. "Everyone has something they're not good at. Maybe yours is making tea"

"Certainly! No one makes tea like my husband" Toriel's eyes lighted up with nostalgia "He has a way to make every cup special, even without trying. When we met, he gave me a cup. He said it was his way to say he wanted to know someone better. Even back then he knew what to say to catch my attention" the nostalgia faded away, replaced by a cold disdain "Too bad things have changed. We may still be married, but I feel like we don't get along anymore, not since the war started"

"Sounds to me like something you should talk with him"

"I don't want to talk to him. I don't want to see him, even if I have to go and give the monthly address at the capital today" Toriel sighed "No, that's wrong...I want to fix it, but after a century of this, how am I supposed to do that? When I see Asgore I want to grab him and shake some sense into him, but at the same time I want to apologize, and I think that maybe I'm the one in the wrong, and I just-" Toriel shook her head, standing up. "Sorry for saying all that, young man. You must be bored with the ramblings of an old woman like me"

"I don't mind" Syphus quickly said. It did seem to him Toriel hadn't intended to tell so much about her feelings, but something good could come out of that, one way or another.

"I must leave to New Home now. Will you stay here for a while?" Syphus replied he planned to be in the Ruins for a while, so Toriel took out a long list from a drawer, giving it to Syphus "I need you to do me a favor: in a few minutes it'll be time for a few Royal Guard members to rotate their turns. Please wait for them and..." she gave a series of logistical instructions. It was a rather simple task, one Syphus didn't mind to do, and not only because Toriel offered some gold in exchange of the favor. _I have an excuse to stay and take my time to break into the room under renovations._

"How long will you be away?" Syphus asked, just in case.

"The monthly address should take a couple hours. Will you be okay?" _A couple hours should be more than enough time to find a way to bypass that lock! It's perfect._ "Oh. One more thing, Syphus"

"Yes?"

Toriel made sure he was looking straight at her. "Don't talk about that room with anyone. I'm serious about this: you must keep it as a secret. Do you understand?"

Although Toriel didn't raise her voice higher than usual, Syphus felt her authority weighing on him. She definitely meant it. No talking about it ever again. "I-I understand"

"And please avoid talking with your guard friend. He'll be here for his turn to end, but he also has been relocated to another area of the Underground. Don't look for him"

Syphus gulped. Toriel made sure her cape was well placed, and left the Ruins, leaving Syphus with the list and his new duties as temporal Royal Guard supervisor. A few minutes after the queen left, Syphus went into the hallway towards the door at the end, softly pushing it with his hand.

It was closed. No such luck as it being ajar or anything like that. Syphus grabbed the doorknob and slowly twisted it, expecting to meet resistance. Much to his surprise, the doorknob kept moving. _It's...it's unlocked!_

Before he could push the door open he heard steps entering the house. Syphus gasped and let go of the doorknob, stepping away of the door before whoever came in noticed he had been about to enter that room. Luckily for him, the guard who arrived wasn't paying attention in that direction, but it seemed it'd be a while before he would be able to take a look inside the room. "Hey! Wait! I need your patrolling route and number" Syphus shouted, grabbing the list Toriel had left him. _With some luck all the guards will arrive and go away before Toriel returns. Come on, throw me a bone, universe, will you?_

-ooooo-

After a long while, the list Toriel had given him was completely filled.

Just like she had said, Royal Guard 047 passed by, but he didn't say a word to Syphus besides the information Toriel needed. He seemed rather peeved, and as soon as he gave his information, he went away, not without first glaring at Syphus with scorn. _Oops._ In a way, in Syphus' opinion, it served to confirm Toriel really was hiding something rather important. Why else would she take such measures to protect the secret of whatever was in that room?

Syphus waited a few minutes, in case someone was going to enter the house, and hurried to the end of the hallway. The quicker he got done with this, the better. He was almost sure that the moment he tried to enter the room under renovations, someone would arrive and he'd once again be forced to leave it for later. In matter of seconds Syphus opened the door, entered the room and closed the door with a slam, holding it with his back and marveling at the fact that he was finally in. He had done it. _Finally!_

Now that he had managed to sneak into the closed room, he had the time to see what exactly was inside. It wasn't under renovations, that much was for sure, but there weren't that many things either. It seemed the room was meant to be a temporal stop, not a place to house anyone for long.

There were only three objects in the room: a bed, a large wardrobe and a very old-looking television. Other than that the room was barren, although kept clean. At least it meant he wasn't going to spend long looking for anything useful. The strangest thing in the room was the television, so Syphus approached it to take a better look.

Indeed, it was a rather old model. It was made of some kind of coppery-colored material, dull and smooth. The television was plugged in, so Syphus pressed the button to turn it on. It didn't work. After fixing the television through liberal use of the percussion method, the now-slightly-dented television turned on.

The static-y image showed some sort of news set, featuring a rectangular robot wearing a red suit. It said 'MTT News' in a corner. Although there was a video showing what seemed to be a live reporting of the monthly address, Mettaton was right in front of it, filling 70% of the screen. While the television's distorted sounds filled the room, Syphus started rooting through the rest of the room, listening attentively. Seeing how Toriel was in New Home, Syphus relaxed a bit, he would have time to search to his heart's content.

 _"...the 100th anniversary of the war against humanity! King Asgore's speech brought tears to everyone's eyes and a heavy weight to all our wonderful hearts, as everyone's hopes for a future over the surfaces continue plummeting..."_

Syphus looked underneath the blanket of the bed, as if he expected to find something like maps or written stuff there. There was nothing like that. Under the bed the only things to be found was a bug or two, skittering away into the cracks on the wall.

 _"...queen's passionate words tried to lift everyone's spirits!"_ Mettaton gestured dramatically _"Let's hear a few words from those who attended the monthly address..."_ The monsters interviewed mostly expressed support to Asgore and respect for Toriel, although all of them agreed on one thing: that things looked very grim after one century of no progress since the war started.

The wardrobe was rather large, but it was normal. Several drawers in the lower part of the furniture contained blankets and bedsheets, along with a couple shoes way too small for Toriel. Syphus took one of those, storing it in his pocket. It could come useful in some way, he hoped.

 _"...but let's not despair, dear viewers! Not everything is grim. We still have the MTT Products to brighten up our lives!"_ Mettaton announced, the video feed behind him vanishing away _"I'm proud to announce a new addition to the programming: the MTT Shopping Program! Selling the best MTT products for your enjoyment..."_

Syphus opened the large wardrobe doors. Inside there were cloaks, and nothing more than that. The cloaks were all of the same gray color and had different sizes, ranging from small child-sized cloaks to some Toriel could wear easily. Syphus looked among them, in case there was something else hidden in there.

 _"...news program is over! MTT News apologizes for resorting to using a recording of the monthly address instead of a live feed..."_

"Wait, what?"

Syphus' head turned so fast towards the television he almost sprained his neck. It was not a live feed? It was a recording? Then Toriel may not be in New Home right now! It took him a moment to realize he had frozen in place. Once he realized that, he quickly left the cloaks aside, turned off the television and slightly opened the door of the room, intending to listen if there was someone in the house. He clearly heard the sound of steps, it sounded muffled. Someone was ascending the stairs towards the house.

He acted immediately. The piece closed the door instinctively and facepalmed _. Idiot! Why didn't you step into the hallway?!_ At least that way he could have pretended he hadn't entered into the room, but he had lost his chance. The noise made by closing the door was way too loud, too. There was no way Toriel wouldn't hear it! Syphus was sure it was Toriel, judging by the muffled steps. Someone large and with padded feet was ascending the house, and it was likely it was her.

Syphus looked around the room, frantically, looking for a place to hide. The open door of the wardrobe showed him a good enough option, it was either that or hiding under the bed. He took a decision, hurrying to the wardrobe, getting inside and closing the door, huddling into a corner of the wardrobe, under the hanged cloaks. Syphus could feel his heart beating rather fast, the adrenaline of maybe getting caught making him want to run away as fast as possible. Sitting inside a dark wardrobe was much more stressful than he expected, looking at the darkness and trying hard to listen outside.

It wasn't long before he heard the noise of the door of the room opening. Syphus immediately covered his mouth, trying to stifle the sound of his breathing. Didn't goats have a great sense of hearing when it was about low sounds? He could feel his muscles tightening, the sweat gathering on his forehead. Slowly, the piece moved one hand and opened the wardrobe door just enough to see what was outside.

Indeed, it was Toriel. She was taking her time, pacing around the room. Clearly she had suspected something wrong when she found the door unlocked, that is, if she didn't hear the noise he made not too long before. It was matter of time before she opened the wardrobe and found Syphus inside. _She's not going to like this at all!_ If merely talking about the room had made her angry, how would she react by finding him inside that room, snooping around? Right in that moment Toriel turned her head towards the wardrobe. Syphus pressed himself against the back of the wardrobe when she started approaching, her hand about to open it. _Shit!_

That's when he remembered that one object. Just when Toriel opened the door, Syphus pressed the firefly brooch he had pinned to his green track jacket, deactivating the monster illusion and showing himself as a human. It was risky, but he had to try it, and if it didn't work...damn it, he hadn't made a SAVE point since Waterfall! He didn't want to have to relive the last few hours.

The wardrobe door was completely opened. Toriel looked at the human adult inside the wardrobe, who was blinking in response to the light. "Oh! A human!"

"P-Please, don't hurt me!" Syphus covered his head with his arms, pretending to be scared. The less threatening he looked the better, and what better for that than looking like he was fearing for his life? It was a tad humiliating, someone of his age begging for his life and covering his head like a child as if he expected an attack, but if it was necessary so Toriel didn't suspect a thing then Syphus was willing to do it.

"Don't fear, young man, I won't hurt you" Toriel stepped back, leaving a lot of space for Syphus to get out of the wardrobe. Syphus stared at her for a moment with what he hoped was a distrustful expression, and slowly exited the wardrobe, always looking at her. He was trying his best to look lost, afraid, everything a human would be in a situation like this. "Are you hurt?"

"No, I think I'm—I'm okay..." Syphus said, looking away.

"How did you fall down into the mountain, young man?"

"I don't remember much...I think I fell into a hole? And when I woke up I was in a weird purple place" Syphus pretended to have goosebumps for a moment "I got here, and found that door open, so I went in and then...heard someone going up the stairs"

Toriel nodded and closed the door of the room. Afterwards she went to the bed and sat on it, mulling something. Syphus waited, looking around with nervousness that wasn't entirely fake, until the queen finally said something:

"How did you make yourself look like a monster earlier, Syphus?"

Syphus turned his head around. "...what...?"

"I know it's you. I didn't think you'd break into this room, though. Maybe I should have suspected you would" Toriel chuckled, surprisingly not tense at all. She actually sounded genuinely amused! Syphus relaxed a bit, daring to drop the act.

"How did you know it was me?"

"You're wearing the exact same clothes that monster I talked with earlier was wearing, including that nice brooch on your chest"

Oh. Right. The illusion didn't change the clothes. It was to be expected, now that he thought about it. Syphus smiled sheepishly. "I see. My bad"

Toriel nodded, her amusement dropping a bit. "Why were you disguised as a monster earlier?" she asked again.

 _This wasn't how I thought it'd go._ It was better than nothing, though. Toriel didn't seem furious, in fact, she sounded more patient than anything else. After weighing the pros and cons of being _somewhat_ honest, Syphus shrugged. "I have heard the legends, so I figured monsters may not be happy to see a human wandering around"

"Is that why you were asking about other humans before?"

"Precisely! I deduced there must be a human village somewhere, so I wanted to find it. It must be a safe place for someone like me"

The queen seemed to believe the half-lie, nodding while listening. It made some sense, anyone who was lost among a species that could turn hostile against him at any moment would be eager to find a safe haven, and Toriel indeed was the best lead to find that. In a way, he asking her directly should have made her suspect he was desperate. Could she trust him, though? If a human could convincingly disguise himself as a monster, wouldn't the opposite be true, too? Was Syphus a human or a monster? That's what she wasn't sure yet.

" _How_ did you disguise as a monster?" Toriel asked slowly. That was the final question, the one that'd define if she could trust him. Syphus didn't look at her, though. He seemed to be deep in thought again. The more she waited, the less she liked the situation. She had to think of what to do if she decided Syphus couldn't be trusted. It was to be expected Syphus would keep searching everywhere. How could she convince him to stop?

"Magic" he blurted out, interrupting her ponderings "It was magic, just an illusion. I don't know how it works, I just..." Syphus pressed the firefly brooch, turning it on. Toriel saw how in an instant the monster she had met earlier appeared right in front of her, completely different to a human. Syphus extended his hand towards her "See? It's an illusion! I'm actually human" Toriel took the hand, squeezing it in her paw. The hand looked scaly, rough, with short and fat fingers, with long sharp claws, but none of that was real. Toriel passed her own claw in the space where Syphus' black claws were supposed to go, noting how her fingers went through them. His claws just didn't exist.

"I had never seen something like this before..." The magic monsters used was rather impressive in its own right, but she couldn't recall something like an extensive illusion like this one. At least it did answer the question: the human body was the real, physical one. He really was human. After letting go of Syphus' hand, she opened the door "I'll take you to the Hidden Village, but there's something I need you to promise me"

"What is it?"

"Promise to me you won't leave it to explore the Underground" she said, sounding very firm about that "I know you have a convincing illusion, but you must not leave the Hidden Village"

So humans really were locked in a place, just not with a door and lock. The humans were isolated into an area of the Underground, forbidden from leaving. In a way, it was what monsters were currently going through. Did Toriel realize it? Syphus pointed it out. Toriel's shoulders slouched, she looked very tired now.

"It's for their own good"

Syphus wasn't sure how to feel about that. It felt so...wrong, but there was nothing that could be done about it. Did the humans really accept it so easily, though? Human nature dictated some of not all of them wouldn't just sit around and stay in the same place for the rest of their lives. It was likely some would indulge in escaping the village without Toriel being aware of it, if only to walk around Waterfall. If so, it was a miracle no human had ever gotten caught.

"I promise" What other option did he have other than accepting such condition, if only verbally? He wasn't going to stay in that place, that was for sure. He was going to let Toriel take her there, assess the situation, make sure all the humans were okay, and then...

...then he'd do something else. He wasn't sure yet what to do after that. _I'll cross that bridge when we get there._

-ooooo-

Undyne burst through the laboratory doors, almost ripping it off the hinges. "I'm back!"

Alphys, who had been sitting in front of the console, watching Undyne go through Waterfall and back to the laboratory, didn't even turn her head around. She was used to Undyne's rather energetic behavior, this was something that happened practically every day. There was something about the double doors towards this area of the laboratory that made Undyne want to cross it with a tackle or a jump. After making a mental note to check later the doors weren't about to fall down in any moment, Alphys instructed to put on a nearby table the object she had asked Undyne to bring.

It was a camera. Since some months ago, one of the many cameras in Waterfall had showed absolutely nothing, just a black void where a large cave should be shown. Alphys hadn't been in a hurry to fix it, though. She hadn't even bothered to try to retrieve it, she didn't like the idea of going outside for it. After all, it was likely she'd encounter people, people with expectations, people that talked about her and told her they had high hopes for her work. It had been a very long time since she was named the Royal Scientist.

Alphys had done absolutely nothing useful since then.

It wasn't to say she had done _nothing at all._ It was more that, when it was about the task of finding a way to break the Barrier, she had done no progress. Thankfully, monsterkind had been rather patient about it, mostly because Asgore's war declaration keep them focused on that and not on her struggle. Asgore had shown to be rather understanding about the lack of progress, and although Toriel had expressed her disapproval once or twice, she had also said she was willing to let Alphys work on her own pace.

Alphys was glad about all that, but having nothing to show, having people maybe think she didn't deserve the spot and that she was doing nothing more than leeching on the laboratory, the job and everything it brought...it made her queasy, to say the least. If she had to describe how she felt during the nights, when she was forced to stare at the ceiling while she waited to fall asleep, she'd say it all made her want to scream, to announce aloud she was a liar, that the SOUL in the robot she had made and presented was a ghost monster. It was tearing her apart.

At least she was able to keep those feelings suppressed, most of the time. "T-Thanks, Undyne" Alphys smiled sweetly while Undyne left the camera on the table. The fish woman sat slipshodly on the couch beside Alphys while the scientist examined the camera's exterior, looking for obvious damage. Not finding any dents, the lizard scientist took it in her claws, turning it over and checking it with expert eye.

"What's the diagnosis, doctor?"

"It's just m-mud..." Alphys mumbled in disbelief. That was all the camera had wrong! Someone had smeared mud on the lens until nothing could be seen through it. Ridiculous! It could have been fixed long ago just by cleaning the lens. In hindsight, procrastinating this for months was kind of silly. She told Undyne the results. Undyne scrunched her face, bemused.

"That was it? Who would do something as silly as this?"

"I don't know...b-but I can fix it in a second" Alphys took a nearby screwdriver "M-May as well check everything's in order..."

Undyne stood up from the couch, taking it over her shoulder with absolutely no effort at all. "Take that over here. I found this in the dumpster!" she took out something: a DVD, so faded she couldn't see what it was supposed to be. Alphys' eyes widened slightly.

"What's it about?"

"I don't know! So let's find out" Undyne left the couch against the wall and near a large TV, and put the DVD in the player while Alphys brought over the camera, as well as a few tools. She set the camera on the table in front of the couch. While she removed the outer cover of the camera, Undyne returned, slouched on the couch and grinned. As usual, watching anime with Alphys was one of the few times both could just relax and enjoy each other's company without any pressure from anything else. Both cherished this type of moments dearly.

Alphys huddled against Undyne, starting to work on the inside of the camera while the contents of the anime DVD started.

* * *

 **SOCIAL LINKS:**

 **Fool - Frisk - RANK 1**

 **Magician - ? - RANK 0**

 **Priestess - ? - RANK 0**

 **Empress - Toriel - RANK 2**

 **Emperor - ? - RANK 0**

 **Hierophant - ? - RANK 0**

 **Lovers - ? - RANK 0**

 **Chariot - ? - RANK 0**

 **Justice - ? - RANK 0**

 **Hermit - ? - RANK 0**

 **Fortune - ? - RANK 0**

 **Strength - ? - RANK 0**

 **Hanged Man - ? - RANK 0**

 **Death - Cornio - RANK 1**

 **Temperance - ? - RANK 0**

 **Devil - ? - RANK 0**

 **Tower - ? - RANK 0**

 **Star - Lucia - RANK 1**

 **Moon - ? - RANK 0**

 **Sun - Papyrus - RANK 1**

 **Judgment - ? - RANK 0**

 **Aeon - Syphus - RANK 1**

 **Jester - Alphonse - RANK 1**


	7. The Hidden Village

The path through Waterfall was as wet and annoying as usual. At least Monster Kid hadn't been way too off, he really had been taking Syphus in the right direction. It was right at the end that the child had gone the wrong way. Toriel was a better guide, she walked with more certainty and didn't run a couple dozen feet ahead of Syphus, fact he was eternally grateful for.

Both the queen and he were wearing cloaks obtained from the 'room under renovations'. She had insisted on using it, arguing that even if he had a disguise, it'd be better to simply hide from everyone. "Won't people be suspicious of a pair of cloaked people wandering around?" he had asked while she made sure his face was well hidden. He had activated the illusion, just in case.

"Monsterkind comes in all kind of forms and shapes, young man. They don't pay attention to what other people are wearing or how they look like"

That was no guarantee, in Syphus' opinion, but he supposed that if the Queen of All Monsters herself walked around Waterfall in a weekly basis and no one ever noticed it was her then maybe she was onto something.

Syphus was quickly finding out it was a hassle, though. The cloak, soaked from all the water and the puddles strewn on the ground in Waterfall, weighted a lot and hindered his movements. Toriel wasn't having such problems, used already to the inconveniences of wearing a cloak.

She also insisted in not talking during the journey. The one time she did say something, it was to tell Syphus she was silent just in case there was someone nearby. Some people could recognize Toriel by her voice, after all, and better to be safe than sorry.

The path Toriel led him into was a narrow cavern hall. The only landmark it had was a cluster of fluorescent mushrooms on the ceiling, mushrooms were something so common no one paid much attention to it. Toriel looked at the mushrooms and nodded. "Over here" she whispered, walking to the wall and looking at the ground. She pointed a slope that led into a crevice, directing Syphus to take a closer look. The piece crouched and peered inside, finding a path that diverted from the hall and into the depths of the cavern. It was large enough for Toriel to enter without any problems, but anyone merely passing through the hall wouldn't notice it.

Syphus descended first, slipping down the crevice until he got to the bottom, entering a dark and foreboding section of the mountain. Toriel followed behind him, taking off the cloak and instructing Syphus to deactivate his illusion. "We're close. I trust you'll get along with everyone"

"Don't worry, I will" he did get along with them back in his origin timeline. How difficult could it be now? Who knew, maybe he could even get Social Links with them right out of the bat! Six Social Links would be a considerable boost of power and variety to the Personas he would fuse in the future! He was immersed in such thoughts when a yelp and a squeaky scream echoed in the cavern. He had collided with someone short and light. A little girl, to be more precise, and she had fallen onto the floor.

"Criminy!" she yelped.

"Oh dear!" Toriel moved past Syphus and helped the girl stand up, gently grabbing her in the air for a moment. "Are you alright, my child?"

"I'm okay!" she said, sounding like she hadn't just crashed onto someone "I didn't see you"

"It's too dark for you to see anyone in this tunnel. Here, let's return to the village" Toriel grabbed the girl's hand, starting to lead her towards the end of the tunnel, with Syphus following at the back. The voice of the girl was unfamiliar. Who was she?

At the end of the cavern there was a large and well illuminated chamber. The tunnel ended in a natural platform, from where stairs descended onto the ground. Not too far from there, Syphus could see a few rustic cabins surrounding a plaza, and a bit further than that, a larger wooden building that resembled some sort of communal center. The lights in the windows were turned on, the residents had some privileges, apparently. It was kind of a shabby village, but for the purposes of living in the Underground and hidden from everyone else's sight it was good enough. Syphus turned around to take a look at the girl he had encountered in the tunnel.

She was both familiar and a stranger at the same time. It was a curious sensation, like he knew he should recognize who he was seeing but couldn't pinpoint a name. There were a few things that hinted her identity, though. The cowboy hat, the hopefully fake gun strapped to her thigh, the determined yet now innocent expression in her face...

"...Annie?" Syphus muttered, but he said that way too softly. Ananas didn't hear him. Besides, she was too busy getting scolded by Toriel.

"You shouldn't leave the village. You know it's dangerous to go outside"

"I'm sorry, ma'am" Ananas replied, looking at the ground.

"What would have happened if someone saw you? Your _life_ is in danger"

"I wanted to take a walk, ma'am"

Toriel crouched, placing her paw on Ananas' shoulder. "I know it's not easy to get used to this place, but you have to understand it's for your own good. I'm not trying to play jailer" Ananas didn't reply to that. Instead, she looked at Syphus with confusion.

"Who is he?"

Syphus lowered the hood of the cloak, showing his human face. Ananas' vivacious eyes widened. "A new person for the village!"

"That's correct. Let's guide him to meet the rest, shall we?" Toriel again took Ananas' hand and took her down the rudimentary stairs, going towards the village. Syphus stood still for a moment, a tad flabbergasted. Sure, her usually tanned skin looked discolored, but there was no mistake, that girl was Ananas. It was jarring to think that. Last time Syphus had seen her in person she had been an adult, almost sixty years old. Now she was a child, no older than ten years old. It was hard to believe, but then again:

The iterations from the timeline he came from weren't the same iterations from this timeline.

Clenching his teeth in an effort to keep his jaw from falling open, Syphus followed them to the bottom of the chamber and into the village. Toriel let go of Ananas right at the edge of the village, the girl running inside and stopping near the plaza. "Where could he be? Usually he's around here..."

"I apologize, Your Majesty. I had to help Celia for a moment" a figure hurried to the edge of the village, exiting from one of the cabins. He was an old man, moving as if he were younger than he actually was. When he got close enough Syphus had to stifle a gasp, taken aback by the old man's appearance.

His skin had the color of bleached petrified bark, and looked dry enough to feel like one, too. Unhealthy spots covered his skin in some places, and the skin itself was tense over the bones. His eyes were dully colored, but there was a spark of intelligence and life in them that reassured Syphus the man wasn't going to fall over dead in any second. "...are you feeling alright?" Syphus asked before he could stop himself, shuddering at the old man's rather unpleasant appearance.

"What? Of course I feel okay! Why would you—" the old man stopped, scoffing and looking at his own hand, bony and gnarled "It's because of how I look, isn't it? That always makes the newcomers stare at me"

"...yeah, it's that. You look...uuuuh..."

"If you think how I look is bad then you better not see the one human who is older than me!"

"Cohen, this is Syphus. He fell into the Underground earlier today" Toriel introduced him, then turning towards Syphus "This is Cohen. He's the leader and guardian of the Hidden Village"

"Pleased to meet you" Cohen extended his hand, shaking Syphus' with a surprising amount of strength for someone as old as Cohen "You're the first adult I see fall into this place. It'll be nice not to have to deal with a child making a ruckus"

"I leave him in your hands, Cohen. I'll return next week with more provisions"

"Got it, Your Majesty"

"If you ever need anything, young man, please don't be afraid to call me. I must have a...oh dear" Toriel looked in her pocket, finding nothing in there "I thought I had a cell phone here. I must have left it in the Ruins"

Once Toriel left, Cohen clapped once, the noise echoing in the large cavern. His face took a rather serious expression "Right. First things first:

I don't expect you to love everyone to bits, but these are the people you're likely to live with until the end of your life. The least you can do is be cordial. Got it?"

"U-Understood" Syphus nodded. At least it couldn't be denied Cohen was mortally serious about that.

"The people who live here are all good people. I don't want to hear you're causing trouble to anyone"

"I won't, sir!" Syphus refrained from saluting.

"Excellent. One last thing: never leave this village. We were brought here to _survive_ , and to survive we need to stay hidden, unseen. It's going to take time for you to get used to such a small place, but once you do you'll be fine.

Remember, this is your world now" _Well isn't that a cheery thought?_

Once Syphus confirmed he had understood all the instructions, Cohen stepped towards the plaza. "Let me give you a short tour of the place. Come on, follow me"

The tour didn't take long. Other than the cottages, there was only one building more, at the north of the plaza. Cohen pointed at it. "See that place? It's our communal cabin. In that place there is the kitchen and the dining room, and a small stage for ceremonies or for when Toriel wants to give a speech or something. Got it?"

"Got it. Uh...who cooks in this place?"

"You'll meet her later" Cohen said, leading Syphus to the nearest cottage. "This is Celia's cottage. She's the oldest person among us"

"Older than you?" So that was how this went. The former oldest person was now a child, and Celia, who Syphus knew as a little girl, was the oldest one around, and quite old, if she was older than Cohen. "How old is she?"

Cohen leaned forward as if he was going to tell an amazing secret. "Celia will be one hundred eight years old in a month"

"One hundred eight years old?!" That was way older than he thought she'd be! It was a miracle she was still alive. While Syphus' expression showed the surprise he did feel, his guts coiled into a knot at the thought of her advanced age. She could die at any moment, right? Then that meant he didn't have infinite time. Who knew what the consequences of someone dying could be. "How healthy is she?"

Unaware of the turmoil Syphus was feeling, Cohen shrugged. "She's healthy enough. The magic food and ingredients Toriel provides us keeps us way healthier than we would be otherwise. Why do you ask?" Syphus didn't answer that. That was a bit of consolation, at least Celia wasn't going to drop dead in matter of days...maybe. He hoped. He really hoped. When Syphus requested to see her, Cohen shook his head. "No. You can't go in. Only when she summons you you'll be allowed to enter her cottage" the old man jabbed a finger towards Syphus' chest "Understood? I don't want to see you trying to sneak in"

"I-I understand, jeez!" _I'm not some kind of hooligan, Cohen._

"Good. Now—look, someone is coming out of the cottage" Indeed, there was a woman exiting Celia's cottage, a black-haired woman carrying a tray and an empty dish. "This is Byssa. She's in charge of providing us with food and clothing. If you need anything like that talk with her, because no one else will be able to be of help"

Byssa was now the third oldest person, but compared to Cohen she was positively young. Her skin had a pasty ashy color and her cheekbones were sticking to her face despite not looking badly fed. Byssa stopped, observed Syphus for a moment, greeted him with her head and walked in direction of the communal cabin. All the time she looked at Syphus she regarded him with disdain and distrust. It wouldn't be unusual to regard a complete stranger that way, but there was something else in her stare that bothered Syphus, even if he couldn't pinpoint what it was.

Seeing that maybe Syphus was offended, Cohen patted him on the back for a moment. "Don't pay attention to her. She's like that with everyone at first. Just don't antagonize her, or else she'll kick you in the shins. She does know how to make that hurt" he rubbed his own shin before taking Syphus to a side of the village. There was a garden of sorts, filled with vegetable plants. Not too far from there, a pile of wood, hay and other constructions materials were against the wall. There was a teenager piling up some rocks, he looked rather strong yet he had some sort of calming aura that felt comforting to Syphus. "That here is Graham. Hey! Kiddo!"

Graham turned around, wiping the sweat off his brow. "What's new, grandpa?" he noticed Syphus and approached quickly "This was fast! It hasn't even been a year since Annie fell down!"

"At least he's grown up. We won't have to deal with two kids at the same time"

"Yeah, we won't want you to throw your back out, do we?" Graham smirked slyly, but there was affection in his voice. The teenager put his hands on his hips, taking a better look at Syphus "My name is Graham. Nice to meet...meet...you?" his gaze had stopped in Syphus' face. He stared, confused and rather taken aback by what he was seeing. Uncomfortable by the strange reaction, Syphus cleared his throat before trying to get his attention.

"What? Is there something wrong with my face?"

"...n-no, I just..." after a moment Graham stepped back, hesitating "Nice to meet you but I think I have to go away for a moment. See you!" the teenager trotted away, looking back at Syphus once he was far away. Okay, what was up with that?! That was not the kind of reaction he had expected from Graham. Graham had always been known for his rather kind demeanor and willingness to accept anyone who came by. Was his personality way too different from that? To be rejected like that, and for reasons Syphus had no idea about...it did hurt.

"Don't take it personal" Cohen said, unsure "Maybe he did have something to do. Either way, Graham is the one who will build your cottage. It should take a few days to have a roof over your head, so meanwhile, you're welcome to spend the night in my cottage. I must have a spare mattress somewhere-"

"Thanks, Cohen" Syphus replied. To be completely honest, he didn't think he'd spend long in the Hidden Village, not even to sleep. Besides, he still had a lot of gold, surely he could spend a night or two in an inn somewhere.

The last person to meet in the Hidden Village was inside his cottage. Cohen knocked on the door, and a voice sounded from inside. "I'm busy! What do you need?"

"We have a new comrade here, Ciruel. Come greet him" Cohen said, rolling his eyes. His voice was straining under the effort of being civil.

"Tell him to come back later, I said I'm busy!"

Cohen didn't go away nor let Syphus get away, though. The old man merely put a finger to his lips, gesturing Syphus to stay silent. "He'll be here in ten seconds". Six had passed when the window of the cottage opened, Ciruel sticking his head out. His face still had the dark blue paint.

"Okay, okay, let me see" Ciruel saw Syphus, and raised his eyebrows "Oh! Not a kid this time"

"This is Ciruel. Anything Graham or Byssa can't do, he'll lend you a hand"

Somehow Ciruel sounded a bit more carefree than Syphus remembered. I _guess people behave differently if they grew up in a different place._ Without his family to rely on, it was to be expected Ciruel wouldn't be as refined and stiff as he was in the original timeline. The former scholar stepped away of the window. "Uuuh...excuse me, why are your eyes so..." Ciruel tapped the lenses of his glasses, but instead of clarifying what he meant he just shook his head "Nevermind. It's not my business"

"Your face...have you left the village again?" Cohen demanded to know.

"...maybe I did"

"I have told you many times not to leave this place!" the old man raised his voice belligerently "Not everyone is going to be fooled by your little twigs-and-paint disguise!"

"I know what I'm doing! Can't you leave me alone?" and without waiting for a reply, Ciruel closed the window. Cohen clenched his fist, looking as if he was about to punch the nearest object around – Syphus stepped back just in case – but he calmed down after a moment.

"That little stubborn..." Cohen muttered, turning around "Tour is over. If you have any questions you may choke on them. Thank you"

"What's wrong with you?!" Syphus spat before he could stop himself. Cohen, realizing his demeanor when Syphus replying with as much vitriol as he had just used, raised his hands in defense, sighing deeply.

"Sorry. I know I shouldn't take my anger on you, but..." a vein on the old man's forehead swelled a bit "It's like no one cares we need to stay in here. I swear every single one of them takes any chance they have to sneak out. It pisses me off"

"You can't expect people to just accept being forced to stay in such a small place"

"It's so we stay alive! That can't be so hard to understand" Cohen's shoulders dropped "Maybe I'm a bit too rough on all of them, but I mean this:

In this village, my word is the law. What I say, goes. Without someone to rein them in, everyone except Celia would have wandered away and gotten killed long ago"

 _It isn't like you can force them to stay here_ Syphus was starting to feel some sympathy towards Cohen. Cohen always had a rather strong and anger-fueled streak, and although his heart was in the right place, his behavior tended to push people away. Growing in completely different circumstances didn't seem to quell such trait, apparently.

"Cohen, I don't think it's so bad. Maybe you could try to not to impose your thoughts like that...?"

"...I could try, I guess, but I can't promise anything" Cohen crossed his arms "Would it be correct to suppose you're going to do the same and sneak out of the village once I turn my back?"

"Now why would I do that?" Syphus smiled sheepishly. Cohen wasn't fooled by that. The old man rubbed his face with both hands for a moment, sighing deeply, before lowering them and raising his voice a bit.

"Look, these people are under my supervision, and you...you're one of these people now. We humans need to stick together and watch for each other. How else are we going to survive? So listen here:

I promise that, as long as you live in this village, I'll do everything I can to watch over you. So don't be afraid of telling me anything. Good old Cohen will deal with it the best he can" he even dared to smile boisterously at that point.

 **Cohen has taken you under his wing.**

 **You feel a faint bond forming between you and Cohen**

 ** _Thou art I... And I am thou... Thou hast established a new bond_**

 ** _You shall be blessed when fusing Personas of the Emperor Arcana_**

It couldn't be denied Cohen had good intentions. If only he also had the sensibility and the kindness to go along with those...Syphus thanked him, and frowned. It bothered him that most of the people he had met in the village had acted strangely towards him.

"What's with that long face? Something wrong?" Cohen asked. Syphus grimaced at that "If you have questions go ahead. Ask them"

"Did I give a wrong impression? Everyone was acting as if I had grown parasites all over my face or something"

Cohen rubbed his chin. "How do you expect me to know? But it may be because of your eyes"

"...my eyes?" What was so bad about his eyes? Cohen nodded.

"I don't think anyone here had ever seen anyone with such bright golden eyes"

-ooooo-

The good news was that he had found the Hidden Village. The bad news is that he had no idea where this was supposed to go from here. Yeah, he had found the humans. He had just confirmed they were all okay, or at least well enough to survive for the foreseeable future, if nothing went horribly wrong. So now what?

"I think I got stuck" Sisyphus murmured to Lucia, who was staring at the pieces attentively. Lucia didn't answer for a moment, pointing at several of the pieces and muttering to herself.

"...rook to A5...pawn forward two squares...bishop is in danger..."

"Lucia?"

Lucia snorted, putting her hands on her knees. "You need to get your piece's ass in gear already. Congratulations on making an advance towards Cornio's side, but he's preparing something big" she glanced at Cornio, who was looking at her and Sisyphus with curiousity.

"What? What do you think he's going to do?"

"See here? He's flanking this part rather well. You made a bad move, and now it'll cost you dearly"

 _That says absolutely nothing!_ Sisyphus took off his glasses, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "Don't blame me. I'm not a seasoned player like you" after a short pause, he put his glasses back on. "How bad is it?"

"Checkmate levels of bad. It's guaranteed he'll manage to put your king on check"

"Fantastic. Well, not all is doomed yet. Let's see..." Sisyphus looked at his own pieces, analyzing the situation. It certainly was like Lucia said, he had left his defenses way too open. Even though Cornio was supposedly inexperienced with all this, he had pulled the strings and made the residents of the world do his bidding rather admirably. "Any suggestions?" Sisyphus said to Lucia.

Lucia put her chin on her hands, her eyebrows raising over her blindfold. "You know what I think? That kid is what you need right now"

"You mean Frisk?"

"Yeah, Frisk. Your big mistake was to let them go. You were told several times the Underground was a dangerous place. Your piece said it himself! Yet...look! They're traversing the Underground alone. That's what you did wrong"

Right. She was right, it was a major mistake to let Frisk go and not make a bigger effort to follow them. "So all I need is to find Frisk again, and stop them from continuing their usual attempt to reach Asgore. That doesn't sound so difficult. I know where they'll pass through"

"Then do it. You don't have long"

By Sisyphus' calculations Frisk would take no more than an hour to get to Snowdin – it was taking them an unusual amount of time to pass through the forest - but if it were that simple, it wouldn't be a game changer. If the problem was that Frisk was traveling alone, what could be its consequences? There was one thing that could happen, at least at first sight "Frisk is going to die"

"If you don't do anything, they will" Lucia nodded "It seems to me that if the kid reaches Undyne they're as good as dead...and you'll lose the game. Badly"

"Then we better find a way to stop them" Sisyphus raised his hand to move one of the pieces, but his hand froze midway. He didn't like this at all. He had an idea of how to stop Frisk from moving for at least until the next day, but the way he'd do it made him a bit uncomfortable. There was nothing he hated more than seeing a kid hurt.

 _Forgive me for this, Frisk. I don't see any other option. I need to gain time here!_

And so Sisyphus made his move.

-ooooo-

Where was Sans? Where was Papyrus? Where were all the puzzles? Where were the dogs?

Frisk kept traversing Snowdin, starting to feel disoriented. They had experienced the same events countless times, and in all those times, the skeletons brothers welcomed him to the Snowdin forest area through puzzles and japes. It was something they never got tired of, no matter how many times they experienced it. That was why the complete absence of the skeletons bothered them so much. The missing puzzles was a bad omen too. Where were their friends?

And during it all, Frisk had seen several guards they didn't know. They had to take a lot of deviations from their usual path to avoid all the unknown guards, not wanting to risk being seen yet. The Underground may as well be a completely foreign place again, like the first time. Toriel, Sans, Papyrus...would Undyne and Alphys be gone too?

Frisk was too busy with those ponderings to notice one of the guards they didn't know had taken notice of them. "Hey! I think that's a human!" the guard shouted to a nearby partner, pointing in direction of the kid. Only when the two Royal Guard members stood in front of them, Frisk took notice.

Without saying a word, Frisk's neutral expression changed ever so slightly while a cold chill went down their back. They didn't know the guards that were right in front of them, and the axes they were carrying presaged nothing good. Keeping their breath level, Frisk raised their hands defensively, preparing themselves for the FIGHT.

It shouldn't be that much of a problem, right? Frisk had experienced dozens of thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands of FIGHTs. By now they should know how to end it peacefully.

-ooooo-

 _He's hurting Frisk! I can't believe it!_

Cornio had paid attention to what Lucia and Sisyphus had been discussing. Sisyphus hadn't noticed the influence of Cornio's moves and decisions until it was too late to stop any of them. He had managed to sink his claws into the innards of the hearts of monsterkind. It didn't mean monsters didn't have free will. Any of Cornio's decisions would be more like an insidious suggestion in their heads, a way to spur them to do what he wanted instead of outright controlling anyone. It was already unsavory he was going to take control of _one single person_ in the entire Underground, but he had promised himself it'd only be for short periods. Although he didn't like it, it was a necessary action. That one person was the key to cause all the obstacles and mayhem he had in mind.

Cornio had finished the base for the entirety of his game, now all that remained was to start the core of his plan:

Start attacking the Victims, and really, _really_ hope Sisyphus would be skillful enough to save them before the corruption and consequences of Cornio's manipulations took root into the Victims' SOULs.

And the way he was going to attack the Victims was by using their Shadows, of course.

Lucia had seen straight through Cornio. Indeed, Frisk was going to be the first Victim. Just like Lucia had said, Frisk was going to be attacked right before they got to Undyne. What Cornio had never expected was that to gain time and stop Frisk from getting to Undyne anytime soon Sisyphus would make monsters attack the child. It seemed the Royal Guard the child encountered would only rough them up, enough for Frisk to need rest and time to heal a few minor wounds, but it was too much for Cornio. _You're supposed to save them. How can you do this to someone you're supposed to protect and save?!_

"Something wrong?" Sisyphus noticed Cornio's face slightly contorting with anger. Cornio took a deep breath before making the best naïve and clueless expression he could make.

"It's all fine" he smiled, and Sisyphus looked away, again talking with Lucia. _...no, I'm wrong. Normally he wouldn't do this. It's just because he needed a way to stop Frisk on their tracks, that's all. I can trust him. I can...I can trust him._ Again Cornio started having doubts playing with the timeline was the right thing to do.

 _I must trust him._

-ooooo-

Since the Hidden Village was found and Syphus was sure he'd be able to return at any moment, if so he needed, he decided to return to the other plan: find Frisk. The more time passed, the guiltier they felt about not trying harder to find Frisk and keep them from continuing alone. The clock on the wall in Cohen's cottage showed it was around 9:00 PM. "I didn't know there still was a cycle of day and night down here" Syphus commented.

"It's a remnant of what used to be life on the surface" Cohen answered, putting on a pair of tattered leather gloves. The pink color it had had faded away long ago. "Monsters made the magical light in the Underground get dimmer after a certain hour, so it's 'night'. You should get to sleep already"

"What about you?"

"I have to make the nightly guard. Don't worry about me, I'm used to it" Cohen smiled wryly "Anything for the safety of the village"

It shouldn't be too hard to get past him, right? Just one old man, trying to watch over the cavern that'd lead towards Waterfall and the rest of the Underground. A distraction could be enough to escape. Cohen went outside, waving his hand as farewell, while Syphus got on the mattress Cohen had loaned him. After a few minutes, and once he was sure Cohen had left and was far enough Syphus left the cottage.

Syphus slowly walked towards the edge of the village, hiding behind one of the cottages and keeping his ears open to any sounds. No one seemed to be nearby. Where was Cohen? Did he watch from a place hidden from view? Was he watching him right now? Syphus didn't dare to step far from the cottage, just in case. He really needed to plan how he'd escape. The piece looked at all the possible paths, examined the ceiling of the cave, took note of all the dark spots where he could take cover in case Cohen came nearby. Shouldn't be too hard to use all this data to craft a plan to escape—

"The bull eyes the world beyond the corral. Can he get past the cowboy?"

Syphus gasped when he heard a voice he recognized, a voice with a rather exaggerated accent. Ananas had gotten beside him, crouching and smiling cheekily. "Y-You..."

"Howdy, bucko! Shouldn't you be sleepin' right now?"

"...can you not do the whole old west talk thing? It's distracting" He didn't really have time to decipher her way of speaking right now. The more he stood around talking, the less likely he'd be able to escape.

Ananas grinned. "I'm sorry! So, are you trying to get out?" Syphus nodded after a pause "I can help you. I have gotten past Cohen so many times I could do it with my eyes closed" she whispered as if that was a big secret.

"Can you teach me?"

"No" Ananas crossed her arms, pouting "I'm going to help you today, but you'll need to find a way how to do it by yourself. I don't want old Cohen to know how I always escape" once she got Syphus to agree with that, she put a finger to her lips, giggling a bit "Be ready to run"

The girl tiptoed towards a side of the cavern before speaking loudly, looking at a small hole on the wall. "It's a calm night in the dry meadow. How are you doing, my deputy?"

"...stay in your cottage. I mean it" Syphus could faintly hear Cohen's voice.

"But I don't want to go to bed yet! I want to do a stakeout with you"

Syphus started slowly walking along the shadows, hoping Ananas was keeping Cohen from looking in his direction. "We have talked about this several times. Go to bed"

"Make me"

"What's gotten into you tonight?!" from the wall out came Cohen, taking Ananas' wrist and taking her to one of the cottages. While she pretended to be glumly led away, she turned her head around and pointed with it towards the tunnel.

"Get going" she mouthed. Syphus didn't need that to be told twice, he ran as silently as he could towards the wooden stairs that led to the tunnel. He had barely got to the small platform at the top when he heard light steps ascending the stairs. It was Ananas.

The girl got to Syphus' side, bouncing with excitement. "You did it! Well done! Now let me escort you to Waterfall"

"I'm not sure you should leave the village, Annie"

"Don't call me Annie. I'm the Sheriff around here" Ananas tipped her cowboy hat forward "Here, follow me" and without waiting for reply, she entered the tunnel. Not wanting to get in a fight with a child for pretty much no big reason, Syphus sighed and followed her.

"By the way, thanks for helping me" Syphus said "I don't know if I could get past Cohen"

That made Ananas grin with excitement. "He has a short fuse. I just need to be a little brat and he'll try to get me stay in my cottage. It's that easy!" her grin vanished "But I did want to do a stakeout with him...I want to learn how to do it. I want to know how to fight, too, but he doesn't want to teach me"

Syphus nodded. That did seem a bit familiar to him...Ananas had always been the type to take action instead of sitting around doing nothing. "Why are you interested in doing that?"

"I want to be the next guardian of the village! It's my biggest dream" she raised her head high "Someday I'll be the one taking care of everyone"

Syphus felt a warm feeling in his chest, he wanted to grab Ananas and tell her she's the type of person that'd achieve anything she wanted. She had the courage and willpower, all she needed was a chance. "And what's stopping you?"

"Old Cohen doesn't want me to even think of being the next guardian" she said a bit drably "He says I'm too young for that. I'm eight already! Even if I'm little now, I won't be little forever, right?"

"Have you told him that?"

"I did, but he says...he says he doesn't trust anyone to do this better than him"

It was one thing to think that, but in Syphus' opinion, if there was anyone capable to protect the village, it'd be Ananas, once she was a bit older. She had the right attitude, all she needed now was the skill. "You know what? I'll help you"

"What?!"

"What you heard. Sheriff, I promise I'll do everything I can so you're the next guardian! I don't know yet what I'll do but there must be something. I'll try to talk with Cohen"

Ananas stopped, astonished and completely silent. It was so sudden Syphus for a moment thought he had said something he shouldn't have. The silence was broken by a sob. "Do you...d-d-do you mean it...mister?"

"I do. I don't make promises lightly, kid! You'll be the guardian of the village even if it's the last thing I do"

The sobs stopped. Before Syphus could think of anything to say and maybe make the situation not look as awkward as it seemed, Ananas clung to Syphus' leg, squeezing it with all her might. "N-No one had ever said they'd help me with this! Thank you, thank you so much!

Mister, you're the best!"

 **You have taken Ananas under your wing.**

 **You feel a faint bond forming between you and Ananas**

 ** _Thou art I... And I am thou... Thou hast established a new bond_**

 ** _You shall be blessed when fusing Personas of the Chariot Arcana_**

Ananas let go of Syphus' leg, drying the tears on her eyes. "C-Confound it, a cowboy doesn't cry...we're tough! I won't cry ever again!"

"There's nothing bad with crying, Sheriff. Cowboys do cry too"

She covered her face with her hat, swaying from side to side bashfully. "Cohen says I'm too young, but I'm strong for my age. I bet I could fight any monster that tries to attack us.

I'll show everyone...that I'm the one who'll protect them all!" As if that needed even more emphasis, Ananas pressed the hat over her head, flashing a bold smile. Syphus knew she meant every single word of that, and he had no doubt that she'd manage to gain all the humans' respect once she had the chance to show what she was made of.

Even although she returned back to the village once Syphus got to Waterfall, she promised she'd sneak out of the Hidden Village the next day. "We need to train. I have to get even stronger" she had said, looking from side to side of the cavern to check if anyone was nearby "Let's meet over there tomorrow.

There's a small chamber at the end of this path here. That's where I train and play"

Syphus raised his eyebrows. "Right where anyone could see you? Annie, that's dangerous—"

"You sound like that old man..." Ananas mumbled before taking off her hat, flipping it in her hands with confidence "I'll be okay. I made sure I wouldn't be found" she grinned impishly.

"What did you do?" Trusting Ananas' words blindly would be foolish. Better to know what exactly she meant by that.

Ananas' grin widened. "There was a camera there. I covered the lens with mud and turned it around"

 _...the cameras!_ Syphus had completely forgotten about the cameras spread through all places in the Underground. The Ruins was pretty much the only place without cameras, but ever since it had opened up as a tourist spot, it was not a safe refuge. Syphus made mental note to be more careful, if any of the cameras saw him as a human or helped Alphys find out where the Hidden Village was...who knew what could happen. Alphys wasn't the kind of person that'd harm a human just like that, but there was no guarantee _only_ Alphys would know.

"Mister? Mister, why are you making weird faces?"

"...where's that camera? Show me"

The girl led Syphus to a small chamber at the end of the hallway, disquietingly close to the crevice that'd lead to the Hidden Village. The chamber branched into a maze-like series of tunnels and rooms, a veritable playground for active children like Ananas and Monster Kid. Now that he thought about that, Monster Kid and Ananas were friends, weren't they?

 _Maybe I should keep an eye on MK too. If he was about to bring me here maybe he'd bring other monsters too._

"Over there" Ananas pointed at a small shelf-like protrusion on the wall. Syphus walked to the protrusion and stood on the tip of his feet, peering over it.

"Sheriff, there's nothing here"

-ooooo-

In another place of Waterfall, Royal Guard 047 grasped his sword with fury and slashed at the training dummy again, pouring all his frustration onto it. Hotlands! He had been assigned to Hotlands! Well, it wasn't that bad – he lived in Hotlands and it was a rather nice place for someone who was mostly made of clay – and it was going to take much less time to go to work now, but the spot in the Ruins had made him proud. Having it taken away was humiliating.

And all because he had let curiosity overtake him. Damn it.

The flat of the sword hit the dummy, sending it hurtling towards a nearby bench, making it fall behind the bench and out of sight. Satisfied with how far it had flown, Royal Guard 047 sheathed his sword and let out his breath. He had to calm down. This wasn't the end of the world. Life goes on, and in matter of days surely he'd have gotten used to the new area he had to patrol and it'd be like nothing happened. "All will be okay. I'll be fine as long as I never see that guy ever again".

Having calmed down enough for the moment, Royal Guard 047 left the room, leaving the dummy abandoned beside the bench.

* * *

Shadow Self:

Unlike the lesser Shadows, they appear as twisted mirror images of the person they represent, often with red or golden eyes. Despite often embodying the repressed negative qualities of their counterparts, Shadow Selves wish to kill their originals and take their place in the world. Shadow Selves fight either with a "Reverse" version of their counterpart's initial or ultimate Persona, or they transform into a large twisted version of the Persona they will become once accepted.

 **SOCIAL LINKS:**

 **Fool - Frisk - RANK 1**

 **Magician - ? - RANK 0**

 **Priestess - ? - RANK 0**

 **Empress - Toriel - RANK 2**

 **Emperor - Cohen - RANK 1**

 **Hierophant - ? - RANK 0**

 **Lovers - ? - RANK 0**

 **Chariot - Ananas - RANK 1**

 **Justice - ? - RANK 0**

 **Hermit - ? - RANK 0**

 **Fortune - ? - RANK 0**

 **Strength - ? - RANK 0**

 **Hanged Man - ? - RANK 0**

 **Death - Cornio - RANK 1**

 **Temperance - ? - RANK 0**

 **Devil - ? - RANK 0**

 **Tower - ? - RANK 0**

 **Star - Lucia - RANK 1**

 **Moon - ? - RANK 0**

 **Sun - Papyrus - RANK 1**

 **Judgment - ? - RANK 0**

 **Aeon - Syphus - RANK 1**

 **Jester - Alphonse - RANK 1**


	8. The First Victim

It had seemed the delaying action had worked. Syphus had left Ananas back in the tunnel to the village, telling her to get back there and sleep, and went to the path he knew Frisk would take through Waterfall. It was starting to be late at night, the passageways and roads in Waterfall were rather lonely, to the point that anyone's steps would reverberate and announce anyone's presence, but no one was coming. It seemed like Syphus was the only person roaming this late around.

The streets pf Snowdin Town were as lonely as Waterfall. Unlike earlier, only a few stragglers remained out of their homes, calmly walking and enjoying the cold air outside. It was going to be a pleasant and peaceful night for everyone, there was no reason to believe anything would happen. Syphus made a SAVE point and stuck his claws into the pockets of his jacket, crossing the town and leaning on the sign that welcomed newcomers to Snowdin.

Minutes passed. Ten. Fifteen. Thirty. Fifty. All that time, gritting his teeth and rubbing his hands together to keep himself warm. From time to time he had to step away of the sign just to make sure the back of his clothing wasn't sticking to the sign. During that wait, a few of the residents of the town approached, asking if he was waiting for someone. "A friend of mine should be coming to the town" he always replied cordially. Usually the pedestrian would go away at that time, but sometimes they'd stick around. Syphus welcomed the conversations, anything to keep himself busy instead of having to stare around him and count the snowflakes on the pine needles of the nearest tree.

The wait was close to meeting the one-hour mark when the most recent pedestrian said something Syphus hadn't thought about. "What if they already arrived?"

"...eh?"

"They could be waiting somewhere warm and comfy" the pedestrian turned their head towards the nearby houses "Like the inn"

Could they have arrived long ago? It was worth a try. Entering, asking and going out...it shouldn't take more than a minute or two. If Frisk wasn't there, then Syphus could return outside, no big deal. No, now that he thought about it, it's possible they were at the skeleton brothers' house, too. Had Frisk met them?

Syphus thanked the pedestrian and walked to the inn, shaking off the snow off his shoulders and entering. The bunny monster behind the counter raised her eyes from the guestbook, smiling at the possible client. "Welcome to Snowed Inn. Do you wish to take a room?"

That wasn't a bad idea, it was turning late. After asking how much it'd cost to have a room for the night – _that much?! That's almost all the gold I have!_ – and taking his key, Syphus leaned on the counter, doing the most amicable face he could make. "Say, I have been waiting for a friend for a while already...maybe they rented a room?"

"How do they look like?"

Syphus levelled his hand in the air. "They are this tall, brown hair, a striped sweater...they're a child, traveling alone"

"Oh! Yes, a child wanted a room. Poor thing had no gold, but I let them stay. Are you their guardian?"

The piece hesitated, unsure. He'd have to lie, wouldn't he? "I'm responsible for their well-being. Can I see them?"

The innkeeper wasn't forthcoming with the information at first, but after Syphus suggested she went with him to confirm with the child, she stepped away of the counter and brought him to a door upstairs. She knocked on the door. "Excuse me! May I come in?" the child inside replied she could, so she opened the door widely.

Indeed, it was Frisk. The child was inside, sitting on the bed, clutching their arm and staring at the wall. When the innkeeper opened the door they turned their head around. "Do you know him?" she asked, stepping aside to show better the reptile monster beside her. Frisk stared for a moment before nodding. Satisfied with the child's response, the innkeeper stepped away. Once the innkeeper was gone, Syphus sighed and leaned against the wall, said a 'hello, Frisk' and quickly evaluated Frisk's condition.

Frisk was rather roughed up. Their hair was disheveled, they had scrape marks on a side of their face, and they were still holding their arm. It didn't look like they were hurt in any way that was going to last for a long while, but it was pitiful enough for Syphus to immediately feel a bit of a protective feeling towards the child.

"I thought you lived in the Ruins..." Frisk said, still not moving from the bed. They weren't trying to close the door, that was a good sign. He wasn't unwelcome right now, at least not as before, and Syphus was going to take any chance he could to convince Frisk not to continue alone.

"I told you I was just a visitor there" Syphus said and shook his head "What happened, kid? Why are you so beaten up?"

"...I got attacked"

"Who?"

"The Royal Guard. They..." Frisk winced "I didn't think they would be so violent..." it was to be expected monsterkind would be a tad more brutal since there were no SOULs gathered and Frisk was the first human to fall – as far as most knew – but knowing it and seeing the results of that behavior were two different things. The feathers on Syphus' back stood on end.

"How dare they...!" he spat, gritting his teeth for a moment before forcing himself to calm down "Will you be okay?"

Frisk nodded, tightening their hold on their arm. Not convinced, Syphus slowly entered the room, prepared to leave if Frisk so wished it. "Let me see" they requested gently. Frisk hesitated, looking at their shoes and not saying anything. Syphus had been about to step back when Frisk extended their arm. The piece rolled up the sleeve as carefully as possible.

The arm was pretty bruised but it didn't seem broken. It was bleeding lightly, maybe Frisk had fallen down on some rocks? The cause didn't matter that much. "It isn't so bad. You should be fine" Frisk still didn't reply; they were staring at Syphus with confusion. The false monster didn't realize what had been his mistake, but Frisk did notice that, despite the long curved claws and scaly fingers, Syphus' claws didn't entangle in the sweater, nor the fingers felt as scaly as expected. It was weirdly contradictory; they weren't sure what the meaning of it all was.

Syphus let go the arm. "I'll go get some bandages. Wait here, kid. It won't take long" he requested. To be frank, he was kind of sure Frisk would run away, or at least close the door of their room. Soon Syphus was back in the inn, having spent the last gold he had on bandages and a Cinnamon Bun. Much to his surprise, he found the door of Frisk's room wide open. When Syphus entered, Frisk jumped slightly, as if they had been doing something wrongful right before Syphus came in.

The child accepted the Cinnamon Bun. "Alright, stay still. If you move you could get a bit more hurt than you already are"

"...it doesn't hurt that much"

"It isn't about you being in pain, it's about making sure you're alright" Syphus carefully made sure there really wasn't anything broken and started wrapping the bandages around Frisk's arm, trying his best not to cause too much discomfort. Frisk stoically endured the pain, barely showing it hurt, satisfied with eating the Cinnamon Bun.

Once Syphus was done, he put a bit of the leftover bandage on the scrape marks on Frisk's face, and let their hair cover it. "There you go. We're done here"

"...you didn't have to do this, Syphus" Frisk mumbled, his fingers curling on what was left of the Cinnamon Bun.

"I don't see why not. You were hurt, I wanted to help you. What kind of person would see a child hurt and walk away? Not a good person, I'd say"

"Do you really think that?"

"Of course I do! There's no one more cowardly than someone who dares to hurt a child" Syphus said categorically "And as far as I'm concerned, leaving them alone when they need help is just as bad. Why did the innkeeper not do a thing?!"

"...she tried to, but I told her I was okay" Frisk raised their head "Were you following me?"

Syphus, standing up to disguise the sudden tenseness on their face, opened the wardrobe of the room. There were many things inside, just a few clean blankets and bedsheets piled by color: navy blue and white. Syphus took one of the blankets, passing it to Frisk. "No. I didn't follow you, but a couple hours ago I got worried anything would happen to you. The Underground is dangerous for a..." he lowered his voice as if he expected someone to be listening from the hallway "...a human..." he raised his voice back "...so I decided to try to find you. Is that okay?" Frisk nodded but didn't reply anything further than that. Supposing the talk was over and satisfied Frisk wasn't too hurt, Syphus moved to leave the room.

"I have a room not too far from here. If you need anything don't be afraid to knock at my door, alright? And..." he turned his head around "...and in the morning please wait for me. I insist: you should go with someone. Don't go alone" Frisk still didn't reply.

The piece put his hand on the doorknob and started to close the door. Right when he was about to do it, Frisk finally said something. "Wait!"

Syphus held the door. "Hm?"

Frisk raised their head, smiling slightly "Thank you for helping me"

"It was nothing, don't mention it"

 **Frisk tries to downplay their gratitude.**

 **The Human Child Social Link has reached Rank 2!**

 **Your power to create Personas of the Fool Arcana has grown!**

Syphus's expression lightened up "See you in the morning, Frisk. Sleep well"

Something in that sentence made something click in Frisk's mind. Their smile vanished, replaced by a contemplative expression. "How do you know my name?"

"What do you mean?"

"I haven't told you my name, mister"

The reptile froze. That had been a very stupid mistake, and he knew it. "I...think...it feels like I have met you before. I don't know how..." and that was a very bad excuse, after all, Frisk would know they had never met him before. It was a good idea to go away before he said anything else that could dig a deeper hole, but before doing that he wanted to see Frisk's reaction.

It wasn't what Syphus expected. Instead of recoiling, or shouting something along the lines of 'I don't believe you!', Frisk smiled wryly. "Mister, you're not a very good liar" they said. Syphus blinked, for a moment he thought he had seen a strange glint in Frisk's eyes, but it was gone before he could be sure he had really seen it. Syphus hemmed and hawed for a moment more before closing the door of the room and going towards his own. He really needed to be more careful, this kind of mistakes were unforgivable.

Once Syphus was gone and the door was closed, Frisk laid on the bed, underneath the blanket Syphus had passed them. They stared at the ceiling for a moment before talking very softly, starting a conversation meant only for themselves.

"...What do you think?"

Frisk's face relaxed and turned into a calmer and calculating expression. Although it was the same body and mind, it was a different child on the bed now, someone who was sharing the same body with Frisk. "He knows too much."

"I don't think he's a bad person"

Chara closed their eyes. "I'm not sure if he is, but you shouldn't trust him. If he's not being honest with you there's no reason for you to rely on him."

"I understand. I'll leave early in the morning"

"That's for the best. Besides, I bet he'll find you again"

"Is that bad?"

"I don't know. Keep your guard up"

The next morning Syphus went to Frisk's room and knocked on the door. Receiving no answer, Syphus opened the door slightly, having found it unlocked. There was no one inside. The bed was still unmade, and the window was open. _Did they leave through there?!_ Syphus entered the room and looked out of the window. There were no prints on the snow outside. It was unlikely Frisk had gone out this way. While there was a tree right in front of the window, it was too far away for anyone to jump onto it, too. It was rather unlikely Frisk had randomly decided to leave through the window.

A minute later Syphus met with the innkeeper, who was already behind the counter, and asked if she knew what had happened to Frisk. "The child left not too long ago! They said you were going to follow them shortly. Should I have stopped them?"

 _Maybe you should have!_ Then again, it wasn't like the innkeeper could have known. After taking a moment to calm down and remind himself he couldn't blame the innkeeper, Syphus thanked her and left the inn. The innkeeper made a few notes in the guestbook and went upstairs to make sure the rooms Syphus and Frisk occupied were orderly for future guests.

There was nothing wrong with Syphus' bedroom. The innkeeper took the blanket and bedsheets off the bed, intending to pile them with the laundry for later. She opened the wardrobe of the room and took out white and dark blue blanket and bedsheets, replacing the ones she had just taken from the bed.

Once the room Syphus used was well fit for the next guest, the innkeeper went into the room Frisk had used, intending to do the same. When she opened the wardrobe, she noticed there was something wrong. A bit bewildered, she counted the bedsheets and blankets, including the ones on the bed. There was no mistake:

One white bedsheet and one blue blanket were missing from Frisk's room.

-ooooo-

If Frisk had left not too long ago, chances were Syphus could catch up to them soon. After making a SAVE point, just in case he died in some stupid way again in Waterfall, Syphus hurried into that area of the Underground.

When Syphus passed in front of Papyrus and Sans' house, he didn't notice someone watching from the window. "It worked" Frisk murmured, smushing their face against the glass. Just like expected, Syphus had ran into Waterfall, intending to find them. It had been easy to think of a plan. All they did was go to the skeleton brothers' house and knocked at the door.

They hadn't come here _just_ because they wanted to hide. Although escaping from Syphus had been part of the reason they had come here, their motive to come here was because they wanted to create their friendship with Papyrus and Sans. That was going rather well! Papyrus had opened the door, like they had hoped. When he opened the door, Papyrus let out a gasp before glancing for a moment towards Sans' door. Once he was sure Sans was still 'napping' in his room and hadn't heard the door opening, Papyrus talked in a barely passable indoor voice. "A HUMAN IN MY DOORSTEP!"

Papyrus unconsciously rekindled his friendship with Frisk, taking no time at all. As if it had been something he had done a thousand times, Papyrus introduced himself to Frisk, showed Frisk his room, served him badly-cooked spaghetti, and although all they did was 'hanging out', they had quickly turned into as close friends as they had been in countless other timelines.

Despite how well it went, Frisk couldn't avoid feeling there was something off about it all. It took them a while to realize what it was: Papyrus had immediately recognized them as a human, and not only that, he had also tried to keep Sans unaware. Not that it had worked for long! Sans quickly found out about Frisk's presence in the house. When Frisk, sitting on the couch, looked aside for a moment, Sans took the chance to appear on the other side of the couch "paps. did you notice there's a human sitting on our couch?" he had said, his voice perfectly idle as if he was commenting about the sprinkles on the pet rock, and winked in Frisk's direction.

Papyrus, who had been in the kitchen, let a pan fall down in false surprise. "OH! THAT IS STRANGE! I HADN'T NOTICED THERE WAS A HUMAN NEARBY! I THOUGHT IT WAS A ROCK!"

"relax, bro. this is a good human" Sans' response made Papyrus peek from the kitchen and comment he had thought Sans would be more surprised to this. The truth was that Sans was aware Papyrus had been mingling with a human who usually spent time in their shed, but he hadn't considered necessary to intervene in any way. Who was he to tell Papyrus who to mingle with?

Now that Sans was aware of Frisk's presence, Papyrus continued his kitchen adventure with less restraint, making the usual racket Sans was used to. While Papyrus kept going, Sans sank in the couch cushion, content for a moment. Frisk was here, Papyrus was going to get along with Frisk...what else could he ask for? "what took you so long, bucko?"

"...what do you mean?" Frisk tilted their head, opening an eye slightly.

"do you know that feeling when you're watching a tv show and you feel it's that rerun you have watched a thousand time already?" Frisk didn't say anything. They were aware Sans knew of the repeating timelines, or at least seriously suspected there was something afoot, but they never felt brave enough to touch the topic. Being silent was their way of trying to avoid the topic, hopefully without making it obvious they didn't like it.

Sans, watching attentively for any change in Frisk's wooden expression, found himself unable to know if Frisk was familiar with the possibility the timelines were repeating. "well, that's how it felt, as if you should have been here since yesterday. it's a funny feeling, and trust me, i know a lot about funny feelings"

"I still don't know what you're talking about" Good thing Frisk had millennia of practice. By now their face didn't twitch nor they started sweating when Sans brought up that topic.

"nevermind. the name is sans, sans the skeleton. thanks for being my brother's pal"

After a few minutes of talking, the child found out rekindling their friendship with Sans wasn't as easy as it was with Papyrus. Unlike the taller skeleton, Sans was more reserved and didn't really show any interest in Frisk, satisfied with following the flow. Frisk supposed it was no surprise, after all, the start of their friendship was always playing along Papyrus' puzzles. No puzzles meant their friendship wouldn't be as strong as other times, as much as it hurt. "why the hurt face, kiddo?"

"It's nothing" Frisk said with a sigh. May as well ask for something that'd help them feel better and maybe bond with Sans... "I'm going to New Home"

"you want to meet with the king? that's brave of you. no human would go visit a king who wants to take their SOUL" Sans said, making it look like it was no big deal "and what's the problem?"

"I don't know if I'll be safe on the way to New Home" Frisk said. With some luck Sans would get the insinuation and accept to watch over them, like they always did in the other timelines.

Sans stared blankly at Frisk for a moment until something clicked in his head. So that's what they were hinting at! Clever kid. "are you asking me to accompany you?"

"That—"

"i work very hard, kiddo. what would my bosses say if i ditched work just like that?"

"SANS, YOU ALWAYS DO THAT!"

"don't pay attention to the skeleton in the kitchen" Sans patted Frisk on the back "i can't go with you but i can keep an eye socket on you. is that good enough?"

"You promise?" Frisk looked at Sans to the eye sockets, knowing how much Sans hated to make promises. Sans didn't look away or seem uncomfortable, all he did was shrug.

"you ask too much of me. i can't promise that"

Figures. Frisk stared at their shoes, a tad discouraged. It was nice to be Papyrus' friend again, but Sans' reticence was a letdown.

 _"What did you expect, Frisk? You're just a human kid who appeared in his living room because his brother got him inside, like a dog bringing a bone"_ Chara said, communicating directly into Frisk's SOUL. Chara felt a bit of a perverse satisfaction at the possibility of Sans staying away, why not to encourage that? Not wanting to start talking to the air right in front of Sans, Frisk excused themselves and went to Papyrus' room, saying they had forgotten something up there, and closed the door behind them.

"Sans is my friend. I must mean something to him"

" _Right now you're just a human kid he knows nothing about. Even if he remembers other timelines, what reason does he have to admit it?"_ Chara said.

"I just..."

 _"You're lucky he accepted to 'keep an eye socket on you'. Not that it was of much help in other timelines, was it? No, there must be another reason for you to ask him to go with you_ " Chara's voice acquired a malevolent edge _"Be honest with yourself, Frisk. Why do you want Sans to go with you?"_

Frisk lowered their eyes. It had been a very long time since the last time Chara had directly attacked Frisk's feelings in any way. They had almost forgotten how much it hurt. Seeing Frisk was unwilling to budge yet, Chara continued pressuring. _"Could it be you're wary of that snake monster who has taken a shine to you? If you want that creep to leave you alone then just say that to him"_

"No, he's not a problem" Frisk hurried to say "It's just that...I want Sans to go with me"

 _"Why? Say it already"_

"Because that's how it's supposed to go" Frisk said, sounding more certain than they had sounded since arriving to the Underground "I don't like how things are going differently. If that happens...does that mean monsters won't be free? That I won't be their friend, and that...that...it's going to end? Is this the last timeline?" Chara said nothing, so Frisk continued, fretting "I think if I try to make things go like they're supposed to go, it'll all be okay. There must be a way, right?

 _"...I don't know, Frisk. I'm as lost as you"_

That was a bit comforting. "Chara, I...I'm sorry. This timeline is not what I'm used to, but we should keep going, right? We should do our best together."

A curious warmth spread through Frisk's SOUL. _"Let's not get sappy, Frisk. You always get sappy when you start saying stuff like that"_

"You know you don't mind that" Frisk smiled.

 _"Shut up"_

-ooooo-

Syphus had completely forgotten about his promise to meet with Ananas. It was just by coincidence, in his searching of Frisk, that he came upon her. She wasn't _that_ far from the Hidden Village, but it was further than Syphus felt comfortable with. At least she wasn't alone. Monster Kid came shortly behind her, recognizing the reptile monster from the day before. "Mister! You came!" she greeted when she saw him, running to meet him, but once she was close enough to take a better look she noticed it wasn't the person she was waiting for, or at least she thought that. The new human in the village wasn't this feathered monster, even if they had the same clothing! Stifling a gasp and stepping back with fright, having revealed herself to an unknown monster like this, her hand instinctively reached for the gun on her hip. "I-I'm sorry, I t-t-t-thought you were s-someone else...!"

"Yo, I know him!"

"You do?" Ananas calmed down a bit, whispering to Monster Kid "...is he your dad?"

"What? No! He is...okay, I don't know who he is. But he doesn't seem bad"

"Grandpa always says I shouldn't talk with strange monsters"

Trying to take advantage of Ananas getting distracted, Syphus tried to judge if Frisk had come by, looking behind Ananas. When he was starting to mull how to ask Ananas if she had seen a human, without tipping to Monster Kid there were humans around, Ananas raised her voice. "H-Hey! You! S-Stop right there!"

"What are you doing?!" Monster Kid inquired mutedly. Syphus looked at the little girl. She had stepped forward, making a brave face and trying not look as scared as she felt. She was failing at that. Ananas was trembling lightly and she seemed to be about to run away at any moment, but her eyes were challenging and her hands were tightly curled in fists. She was trying so hard to face what could be a very dangerous and aggressive monster, for all she knew.

"S-Stop wanderin' aroun' here!"

Syphus stood up as tall as possible, glaring at Ananas. "You should go home"

Her trembling diminished a bit, even if she didn't feel any less scared "I'll ha-have to ask you to leave. P-P-Please"

"What are you doing? You'll get in trouble!" Monster Kid urged her to back down, but she just extended her arm and blocked the way in case he wanted to move forward.

"Stay behind me, MK"

"I don't think you have the authority to tell me where I can't go" Syphus said coldly, trying to measure how far Ananas would go in her wish to keep monsters away from the area leading to the Hidden Village. Slowly, he stepped forward just once. Monster Kid backed off, but Ananas stodd her ground. She merely gulped, slowly took out her gun, clutched it as if her life depended on it, and started breathing raggedly. The little girl was barely keeping herself together, Syphus could see she'd like to back off, but she didn't want to.

"What are you doing?!" Ananas' actions were highly alarming! There was no way showing that gun and facing monsters like that would end well!

"Y-Y-You...this is the l-last time I'll say it...please leave p-p-peacefully"

Syphus couldn't avoid wondering how often Ananas did something like this. How many monsters who were simply walking through Waterfall had Ananas tried to drive away from this area? She was trying her best to be the guardian of the Hidden Village, but she was so clearly misguided on how to do that it was matter of time before she made a mistake and got killed, or worse: accidentally revealed the village's location.

Her behavior wasn't smart, and it was extremely reckless. That wasn't a good combination.

 **You see Ananas' determination and willpower**

 **The Ananas Social Link has reached Rank 2!**

 **Your power to create Personas of the Chariot Arcana has grown!**

"...fine" After making a mental note to talk to her about this behavior, Syphus harrumphed and walked away.

"Dude, that was kinda cool..." he heard Monster Kid say to Ananas once Syphus was walking away. _Don't encourage her, kid!_

"...yeah? I thought I was going to faint..." she replied. That was all Syphus could hear before he was out of hearing range.

-ooooo-

 _I can't believe I was bamboozled like this! That kid...!_

It had been around two hours since Syphus entered Waterfall in pursuit of Frisk. After making a SAVE point just in case, the piece walked through the path he was sure Frisk would take, finding no clue of the child. In fact, a while after encountering Ananas and Monster Kid, it seemed Waterfall had turned eerily empty. All the Royal Guard sentry booths were empty, too, including Sans'. A feeling of heavy dread and a sensation there was something deeply wrong in Waterfall permeated the air. The more time Syphus spent in that place, the more wrong it felt, which in turn made him look for Frisk faster and faster. Where had that kid gone?!

The air was getting colder, too. Syphus clutched the inside of his track jacket, uncomfortable, and tried to think of a new plan. Just when he was about to give up and return to Snowdin to ask if anyone knew where Frisk was, he glimpsed the child he was looking for. Frisk was finally starting their journey through Waterfall! Syphus was running out of time to stop Frisk before they went too far unprotected. Slowly, Syphus started walking in the same direction than Frisk, paying attention what the child was doing.

After a while of walking, Frisk stood near the shore of one of the many ponds in Waterfall, holding their hands in front of them. They seemed to be focusing very hard, as if they were trying to create something out of thin air. Nothing was happening, though. Frisk kept focusing for a minute or two more before sighing and dropping their arms in defeat. "It's not working..." Syphus heard Frisk mutter.

"What's not working?"

Frisk jumped in the air with a yelp, turning around. They seemed rather disheveled again, although this time they weren't clutching anything nor seemed wounded. When they saw it was Syphus again, they straightened up, trying to not to look so messy. "Nothing"

That didn't go unnoticed. "Are you okay, kid? You look like you went through a lot of trouble not too long ago"

"No! Nothing is wrong" Frisk said, looking around. That wasn't a lie, but they weren't feeling very well either.

"Are you trying to do magic?"

The child tilted their head. "Something like that" they started walking away, but they turned their head around once they were a bit far away. There was something nagging at them, and they really wanted to talk it with someone "Want to come with me?"

"Sure!" Syphus joined Frisk. The kid seemed to want to walk around Waterfall aimlessly. At first Syphus thought Frisk had finally wanted his company, but after a while Syphus started to get antsy. "Where are we going?"

"I want some ice cream" Frisk said, and before Syphus could protest by saying he was broke and had no cash to spare, the child showed a lot of gold coins, more than enough for two Nice Cream. Once they found the vendor and got the ice creams, Frisk once again led Syphus through Waterfall, saying there was a bench nearby to sit.

Along the way, they passed in front of Sans' sentry station, where the skeleton was now sitting. When Frisk passed by Sans waved at him cheerfully, gesture Frisk returned. Syphus instead got an unreadable stare, something Syphus chose to interpret as a warning, even if he didn't know what was going through Sans' head right then. As soon as Sans was out of sight, Frisk's shoulders slumped, their previous cheerfulness now gone. Sans being there was nice – he really was trying to take care of Frisk, in a way – but to Frisk it didn't feel like it was enough to calm themselves down. In a way, it was a reminder of everything that was different, but they still wanted to cling onto Sans' presence as a sign things would be okay.

It wasn't long before they found the bench. Sitting there and unpacking the Nice Cream, Syphus decided to tackle the elephant in the room. "So, what's in your mind?" Frisk focused on their own Nice Cream, as if that was going to be enough to make Syphus change the topic. "That's not going to work. I know there's something worrying you. Look, I can't force you to tell me, but I wouldn't mind listening to you if you want it"

There was silence once again, but this time it felt like there was something beneath it, a wish to actually talk. As if to gain time, Frisk looked around, and found the discarded and slashed training dummy to the side of the bench. The child took it out from where it had fallen and put it to their side, trying to distract themselves by picking into the slash marks on the dummy, but once it was clear Syphus wasn't going to say anything else and didn't seem like he was losing his patience, Frisk decided to talk. "What do you do if...you want to do something and you can't do it anymore?"

"Uh, I'm not sure I understand, Frisk"

"What would you do if you forgot how to do something? Like, one moment you know how to brush your teeth and then the next moment you don't?"

Syphus bit his Nice Cream. "I don't know. I think I'd try to remember, if it's easy to do"

"And if you try to remember and it still doesn't work?"

"Then I'd try again, and again, and again, until I finally can remember how to brush my teeth" Syphus shook his head "And if that didn't work, then what I would do is...well, I'd try to continue forward. Maybe I don't need to brush my teeth ever again. I'd be willing to try to go on without that"

"I can't just go on without that!" Frisk suddenly exclaimed "If I can't remember how to do that, then I could—I could die permanently-" Frisk blurted out before shoving their Nice Cream in their mouth as if that were going to shut them up. Syphus stared at them for a moment, starting to understand what was Frisk's concern.

 **You're starting to see what Frisk's worries are.**

 **The Human Child Social Link has reached Rank 3!**

 **Your power to create Personas of the Fool Arcana has grown!**

Of course. Only the person with the most Determination can SAVE and LOAD. Since Syphus currently had that power, it made sense Frisk wouldn't be able to do it. "Whatever you're trying to do...you don't have to do it alone. There are people willing to help you"

"It's not something others can help me with" Frisk said, getting off the bench.

"Are you sure about that? Friends and people who want to help you don't need to know what's going on. You can tell them as much as you want"

"I don't know" this was way too complicated and new for Frisk to be sure how to feel. All they knew was that the future was looking quite daunting. The kid seemed conflicted between being determined and being desperate "All I know for sure is that I should keep going, even if I'm...

...even if I'm scared"

"What are you scared of?" Syphus asked, receiving no answer _. Geez, kid...I wish you were a bit more open_. "Fine, don't answer that. Instead tell me: are you doing what you want to do?"

"I know I want it!" Frisk stood up. Their voice had turned a tad rougher "This is what anyone would do, I have done this many times already. I have to try again. I won't give up. I'm not going to die. I won't...

...I won't die..."

Syphus didn't say anything. He closed his eyes and sighed, trying to think of what to say. Once he ordered his thoughts he started. "Frisk, I can't say I know how you fe—where are you going?!" Frisk was already continuing their way. Syphus stood up immediately, leaving the training dummy on the bench, and followed Frisk from a distance. "Look, Frisk, I beg you: think it twice, okay? Don't just keep going! It won't end well!"

"You know nothing" 'Frisk' spat, not even bothering to turn around.

"I know enough to know you need to stop! Please, consider it! There must be some other way!"

"There's no other way!"

"This is ridiculous, you just—" Syphus grabbed his head, forcing himself to calm down "You don't understand a thing!"

"...creep"

"What?!"

"You don't belong here" 'Frisk' turned their head around, an ugly expression of disdain in their face "I don't know who you are or what you want. Stay away! Leave me alone!"

That was the truth. Syphus truly didn't belong there, and he knew it. Getting such truth thrown against his face like that was still painful, though, even more when it came from that child. Syphus slowly stopped on his tracks, confused and unsure. Satisfied that Syphus had stopped, Frisk continued getting away.

That was it. He had ruined it. This had been pretty much the last chance Syphus had to convince Frisk to stop and don't go towards what could be their death, and he had screwed up. The feeling of wrongness in the air increased even more, an unpleasant thickness permeating the atmosphere. "...no. I can't just give up now. One last try!" quickly gathering his wits and will to stop Frisk, Syphus followed the path Frisk had taken, trying to reach them before the child got too close to where Undyne was supposedly writing.

It wasn't long before Syphus had to cross a field of Echo Flowers. The strange blue flowers were as tall as he was, and if he focused he could swear there was a faint murmur emanating from them, murmurs he wasn't interested enough to find out what exactly those were saying. The tall flowers didn't help find out where exactly Frisk had gone, too. Right when Syphus had been about to finish crossing the field of Echo Flowers, he heard the voice of that child, loud and clear.

"Hey! Behind you!"

Syphus turned around immediately. There were only Echo Flowers behind him, no sign of Frisk besides that voice. "...Frisk?"

"Hey! Behind you!" the voice repeated, echoing. Syphus very slowly started crossing the field of Echo Flowers again, trying to pinpoint where it had come from. The more time it took, the more times Frisk's words repeated, until he realized what was going on. Set off by that first call, the flowers absorbed the same sentence, announcing it just as loud and clear as if had been the first time. "Hey! Behind you!" The phrase repeated over and over, increasing in quantity until the entire field was a cacophony of the same three words, the words blurring together, turning into an unintelligible jumbled mess. Syphus spun, searched over the flowers, tried to ignore the increasingly confusing echoing, but there was nothing he could do. _I have to get out of here before I turn mad!_ Frightened and covering his ears, Syphus ran out of the field of Echo Flowers, returning the way he had come from.

Frisk had successfully escaped. All Syphus could do now was wait near Undyne and hope for the best.

-ooooo-

Sans leaned against the wall, wiping the red paint off his phalanges on his hoodie. He had just finished painting the rim of the telescope with the paint, a little practical prank for Frisk once he passed by.

Just like he expected, Frisk entered the area. "i'm thinking about getting into the telescope business" Sans said once Frisk was close enough "it's normally 50000 gold to use this premium telescope, but...since i know you, you can use it for free. howzabout it? "

Frisk gave a tired smile and shook their head. Thankfully, they had met no monster since they entered Waterfall – something they thought was a bit strange, but at least it meant they weren't in mortal danger yet – but their encounter with Syphus had left them a tad discouraged. They just weren't in mood to play along with Sans' fun right now.

"you okay, kiddo?"

Telling Sans what was going on wasn't something Frisk wanted to go, so they instead nodded. The skeleton suspected the cause of their disheartened behavior, though. "hey. whatever that guy said to you, don't take it to heart. i'm sure it's not as big of a deal as it sounded like"

"Do you really mean that?"

"you need to learn to take everything in stride, like i do" it wasn't a healthy behavior at all, but it worked for Sans.

Frisk smiled tiredly again and continued their way. This section of Waterfall was rather short. Frisk rounded the corner, so Sans immediately vanished and moved to the next corner Frisk would go through. The child would be surprised when they saw how quick he had moved! Sans calculated Frisk would turn the corner in a minute, so he leaned against the wall and prepared for the moment Frisk questioned how he got there so soon.

The minute passed, and Frisk didn't arrive. Well, maybe they're just dilly-dalling. No big deal. Another minute, another more...after ten minutes Sans started wondering if something had gone wrong. Maybe Frisk had turned around and gone back to Waterfall. Still, there was something...off about this delay. Something was wrong. Sans had a bad feeling about it all.

With some hesitation, Sans peered down the corner, looking at the short corridor that connected where he was standing to where he left the telescope. There was no sign of Frisk. "kiddo?" There was no response.

There were few benefits from having a mostly static grin on his face all the time, but not showing certain emotions was one of them, like the slight worry that was slowly worming into him. Sans stepped into the corridor, looking at the ground for any signs Frisk had passed by. There was nothing, just blue rocks, but in middle of the corridor he found a narrow tunnel that led to a small round alcove. It was dimly illuminated, the areas near the walls so dark Sans could barely see the outlines of the rocks near the walls, but despite the darkness Sans could see something on the floor near the furthest wall, something white and lumpy. "...kid, are you hiding here?" Sans raised his voice, sounding as idle as usual. There was still no response. Sans puts his hands into the pockets of his hoodie and entered the alcove, walking to the shape.

It was child-sized, completely unmoving, and covered with a white bedsheet. Sans pushed it slightly with his foot, finding it to be a bit malleable. There was definitely something underneath. Why would Frisk be hiding underneath a bedsheet in a place like this? "now, now, you should stand up already" Sans chuckled and removed the bedsheet.

Rocks. It was just a big pile of rocks, big enough for Sans to think it could have been the human child. Had Frisk done this? There was something on the rocks, though: an Echo Flower. Sans dropped the bedsheet on part of the pile of rocks and grabbed the flower, flipping it around with his phalanges and finding nothing off with it. Since it seemed it wouldn't be dangerous, he put it closer to his face to listen if it would say anything.

 _Hey! Behind you!_

"...huh?"

Sans listened to the message again. That was Frisk's voice. He hadn't talked with the human child for long, but he was sure he'd be able to recognize their voice accurately. Behind you? Should he turn around? Sans turned around, expecting to find nothing.

Instead he found Frisk. The child was limp on the ground, unresponsive.

"what...?" Sans dropped the flower and hurried to Frisk, turning them around to see their face. The child was unconscious, and although Sans tried to wake them up gently, they didn't react at all. "kid. kid, wake up. come on" Sans pleaded, patting softly Frisk's face. Alarmed, Sans quickly checked to see if Frisk had any wounds. The child was alive, that much he was sure of, but why were they unconscious? There were no wounds on their head, nothing that could show they had been knocked out violently. All Sans could find was a small bruise on the lowest point of the base of their neck, partially hidden by the collar of their sweater.

Carefully lifting the child, Sans prepared to teleport to Snowdin, planning to lie Frisk on the couch and wait for them to wake up, but right when the skeleton lifted them, he saw something else that wasn't there before: another Echo Flower, near the threshold of the short tunnel that connected the alcove to the corridor. After adjusting Frisk in his arms, Sans approached the flower. He fumbled with Frisk, not wanting to leave the child down on the ground, and after a bit of trouble he managed to pick the flower up.

 _Hey! Behind you!_

"again?"

Two Echo Flowers with the exact same message. For a moment Sans considered not doing what the flower said, but a morbid sense of curiosity spurred him to at least take a look behind him. Once again, something had appeared.

There was someone – or something – underneath a dark blue blanket. The only thing he could tell for sure is that it couldn't be a pile of rocks. Fed up with what seemed to be teasing from someone, Sans aimed his palm towards the figure underneath the blanket. A bone made of magic sprung from the ground, grazing the figure and hooking onto the blanket. The bone extended tall and long, raising the blanket away from whatever had been underneath.

It was a training dummy, and a rather abused one, at that. It had two noticeable gashes, and there were short branches inserted in them, mimicking extended arms. Frustrated, Sans quickly entered the alcove again, looking around. He saw no one that could have placed the dummy underneath the blanket. Having seen enough and wanting to put Frisk in a safe place as soon as possible, Sans made the bone vanish and immediately moved to Snowdin, appearing inside his house's living room with Frisk. He was sure someone was toying with him back in Waterfall, but how? There had been no one other than Frisk there!

It didn't matter right now, though. Frisk was unconscious and didn't seem bound to waking up anytime soon.

What had happened in the few minutes Frisk had stepped out of Sans' sight?

 **CHECK IN ZERO MOVES.**

 **CHECK.**

* * *

 **The main Persona elements of this story are finally starting! I'm rather excited for that.**

 **SOCIAL LINKS:**

 **Fool - Frisk - RANK 3**

 **Magician - ? - RANK 0**

 **Priestess - ? - RANK 0**

 **Empress - Toriel - RANK 2**

 **Emperor - Cohen - RANK 1**

 **Hierophant - ? - RANK 0**

 **Lovers - ? - RANK 0**

 **Chariot - Ananas - RANK 2**

 **Justice - ? - RANK 0**

 **Hermit - ? - RANK 0**

 **Fortune - ? - RANK 0**

 **Strength - ? - RANK 0**

 **Hanged Man - ? - RANK 0**

 **Death - Cornio - RANK 1**

 **Temperance - ? - RANK 0**

 **Devil - ? - RANK 0**

 **Tower - ? - RANK 0**

 **Star - Lucia - RANK 1**

 **Moon - ? - RANK 0**

 **Sun - Papyrus - RANK 1**

 **Judgment - ? - RANK 0**

 **Aeon - Syphus - RANK 1**

 **Jester - Alphonse - RANK 1**


	9. Frisk's SOUL

_"The Fool is number zero. It is the void from which all other things begin."_

* * *

Papyrus reacted like anyone thought he'd react. Sans had barely put Frisk on the couch when a very loud shout sounded behind him. "SANS! WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM?"

"i don't know, bro. found 'em like this in waterfall. they didn't fall down, don't worry" There was no need to tell Papyrus the details, in Sans' opinion, and even if he did tell them Papyrus right now was more worried for Frisk than for what could have led to the child being unconscious.

"WE CAN'T LEAVE THEM HERE" Papyrus claimed, carefully picking up the kid. Frisk looked small, cradled in Papyrus' arms "FOLLOW ME!"

"where are you going?"

"TO MY ROOM, OF COURSE! I HAVE TO HELP MY FRIEND" he said, jumping up the stairs quite fast. Sans followed and entered the room just in time to see Papyrus lie down Frisk on the car bed, trying to make Frisk as comfortable as he could. "ARE THEY HURT? I DON'T THINK THEY'RE HURT"

"guess not. i'm not sure"

"I SHALL BRING FIRST AID. IT'D BE A DISSERVICE IF THE HUMAN AWOKE, NEEDED SOMETHING AND WE DIDN'T HAVE IT READY! I'LL BE BACK IN A SECOND!" Papyrus left the room with such speed one would think he was trying as hard as possible to fulfill the 'be back in a second' part. Once Sans was left alone, the skeleton sat aside the bed.

Was this supposed to happen? Many things weren't normal about the timeline. Way too many oddities had emerged since time ago, but how could he know for sure this was another of them? For all he knew in every other timeline they all returned to the surface Frisk fell unconscious like this at some point. Telling himself that didn't help him feel better, though.

"we had a monumental derailing, didn't we, bucko?" he said to Frisk, and sighed.

-ooooo-

Papyrus wasn't the type of person to freak out or lose control. When he got in a tight spot he unconsciously refused to let show any nervousness or hesitation, that was reserved for when the situation got less urgent. Those who knew Papyrus well could know when the skeleton was worried or nervous: he got louder than usual, a feat for someone who was already remarkably loud. The shopkeeper wasn't sure how to react when Papyrus entered the shop and dashed to the counter in the blink of an eye. "I REQUIRE YOUR WISDOM!" he boomed, making the shopkeeper recoil from the loudness.

Her uncertainty as to how to react increased when Papyrus started asking questions on how to take care of "A FRIEND WHO FAINTED". She answered with honesty, though, giving all the tips she thought could come useful, and Papyrus diligently bought everything he thought would help.

"I could take a look at them" the shopkeeper offered "Just let me close the shop for a moment and—"

"OH! THAT WON'T BE NECESSARY!" Papyrus interrupted, raising a finger "IT'S THE DUTY OF A GOOD FRIEND TO TAKE CARE OF THE FRIEND WHO IS IN NEED. I HAVE THE SITUATION UNDER CONTROL!" Anything to keep everyone except Sans from finding out there was a human in his house, defenseless and unconscious. Having rejected the shopkeeper's offer for help, Papyrus left the store and hurried towards his house, his arms filled with everything he had bought. Right when he came closer to his house, he saw someone arriving to Snowdin, someone he knew. It was Syphus, looking rather dejected.

When Syphus saw Papyrus, his feathers fluffed up with what the skeleton interpreted as sincere joy. "Here's who I wanted to see! I need your help, Papyrus"

Papyrus glanced towards his house for a second before turning his attention towards Syphus, hesitating a bit. Frisk's condition could be critical, but Papyrus couldn't deny a friend help! The least he should do was listen. "HOW CAN THE GREAT PAPYRUS, HELP YOU TODAY?"

Syphus led Papyrus a bit further away into the road and looked around, making sure there was no one nearby. Once he was sure the coast was clear, he spoke mutedly. "I found a human and they're in danger"

One of the many objects Papyrus had bought fell to the snow, dropped in surprise. It couldn't be that the word spread so far already! The truth was that practically all of Snowdin knew already, since the Royal Guard members stationed in Snowdin and its forest had encountered Frisk, but since most of the rumors and hubbub regarding a human in the Underground was in Grillby's, Papyrus was unaware of it all. Part of the Royal Guard had wanted to inform Undyne and the rest of the guards, but others had argued to consult with the Queen first. For the moment it seemed Frisk's existence was something known only in Snowdin.

Not having noticed Papyrus' sudden silence, Syphus continued. "He's just a kid, harmless and without a mean bone in their body" Papyrus' grin tensed a bit with annoyance at the pun and his struggle to keep silent about Frisk "The problem is that they don't want protection. I think they don't trust _me_ specifically, so...I wanted to ask you to be with them"

"...ABOUT THE HUMAN..." Papyrus took a quick decision. A human child could only be Frisk, unless there were several milling around in the Underground for some reason, and since Syphus seemed to know them... Papyrus opened the door to the house and beckoned Syphus inside, who complied. Once the door was closed behind them Papyrus plopped on the table all the stuff he had brought and looked towards his room "THE HUMAN WAS ATTACKED"

"...what?"

"SANS FOUND THE HUMAN AND BROUGHT THEM HERE. THEY'RE NOW RESTING IN MY ROOM, CRUISING WHILE THEY SNOOZE! I WAS ABOUT TO STAY WITH THEM UNTIL THEY WOKE UP!"

Syphus felt as if a vice had grabbed him by the neck. The kid had been attacked. Less than half an hour after Frisk got away from them the child had gotten attacked. Had Undyne done it? No, she would have _killed_ the child, it must have been someone else. He struggled to swallow, his voice croaked while he tried to form a coherent word or two. It took him a moment to snap out of the stupor. "Let me see them" he said hoarsely.

"I'M NOT SURE—"

"Papyrus, I need to make sure they're okay!" Syphus interrupted, raising his voice. Sans, having heard him, opened Papyrus' bedroom door to listen better "I want to make sure they're okay. That's all I ask"

Sans planted his forehead against the door for a moment, closing it. "here he comes" Knowing Papyrus, he was going to yield and allow Syphus check on Frisk. There was something about Syphus that seemed _wrong_ , something was seriously off about him, but he still couldn't pinpoint what it was. _should CHECK his stats he thought_. Maybe he should have done that from the beginning.

Just like expected, Syphus got to Papyrus' room, slowly opening the door. When he saw Sans, the piece's expression soured for a second before settling in a hesitant attitude "...hey, Sans. How's the kid?"

"unconscious. paps' taking care of him"

Syphus' expression softened. "Of course Papyrus would do that. Wish people would be as cool as him"

"i know, right?" Syphus awkwardly approached where Frisk was resting and carefully rested a finger on the side of Frisk's neck, looking for a pulse. It seemed normal, no signs of weakening...everything pointed at this being no more than a fainting.

While Syphus did that, Sans stepped back and subtly focused his magic, CHECKing that monster's stats. The most basic data appeared immediately.

 **SYPHUS – 18 ATK 19 DEF**

 **A piece owned by the apprentice of the Witch of Hope.**

 _that gives me more questions than answers._ A further look into the stats did show something a bit worrying, though: **LV 3**. _not high, but bad enough._ Most of the population of the Underground had LV 1, very few exceptions existed. That was one proof more Syphus was a highly unusual person, and not exactly in flattering ways.

Syphus didn't notice Sans' CHECK, too focused on the feeling he had to do something now. While he tried to order those thoughts, he asked Sans if he had found Frisk and what he knew, paying little attention to the information. _Why do I feel like I have seen this before somewhere...?_

...wait. That was it. It was a bit of a long shot, given that he had been barely aware of what had happened that time, but hadn't...hadn't Alphonse and him fainted when he...

"Sans, can you do me a favor?"

"hm?"

"Go check on Papyrus. He said he was going to prepare something for when Frisk woke up. Maybe he'll need help"

"...i don't think i care much for you getting me out of my own brother's bedroom, bud"

Syphus gulped but held his ground. _I should have said 'please'._ "I'm not giving you orders, Sans. It's just a favor. Please...check on Papyrus" As if that had been its cue, a sudden _clang_ sounded from the kitchen. "Just in case, please"

Sans stared at Syphus for a moment before sighing and shrugging. "sure, why not. keep an eye on the kid" As soon as Sans left the bedroom, Syphus hurried and left the door ajar, placing the end of the car bed so the door couldn't be opened any further but anyone could look inside of the room from the hall. Syphus stepped out of sight of the door and took off the brooch, showing his human form.

"...it'll take just a few seconds. If it doesn't work, then I'll..." _I don't know what I'll do_. Syphus clutched tightly the firefly brooch, gathering his courage for whatever could come. After making sure the dull collapsible halberd was still underneath his jacket and quickly made a SAVE point, Syphus returned to Frisk's side, in plain sight from anyone standing in the hall. With trembling fingers and trying to moderate his breathing, Syphus secured the brooch to Frisk's sweater, over the child's chest. "Everything's going to be okay. This is what I'm supposed to do" he murmured to assure himself, and raised his hand to press on the brooch and turn it on.

In that moment he felt a sudden tingle somewhere inside his chest, and before he could realize what was going on he felt himself being launched onto the wall, slamming against it without much strength. The abrupt movement elicited a yelp of surprise from Syphus, his hand too far away from the brooch still pinned to Frisk's sweater.

"you didn't think i'd step out just like that, did you?

Sans came out of Papyrus' closet as if he had always been in there, holding his hand and pinning Syphus against the wall with magic. He had reacted mostly out of instinct. Seeing that Syphus was human wasn't big deal, but when he saw Syphus pining something on Frisk he felt the need to act quick, given that leaving Frisk alone had caused this situation in the first place. "S-Sans..." Syphus tried to talk, the pressure on his chest was making it difficult to talk. The skeleton stood in front of him, appraising Syphus.

"so that's what was odd about you. i felt there was something off. guess that disguise of yours wasn't that good" he sounded more amused than upset, which Syphus took as a good sign "wonder how many humans there are in the underground"

"T-There are others...?" Did Sans know about the village?

Sans raised three fingers. "i haven't seen that many. you're just the third. that's two more than i thought there'd ever be" Calmly, Sans glanced at the firefly brooch, approaching to take a better look.

"Don't touch it!"

"ok" Sans stared at it for a moment, nodding as if he had discovered something important "this is what made you look like a monster, isn't it? you were wearing it before"

"D-Don't tell anyone about me!" Syphus pleaded, extending his arm towards the brooch. The tip of his finger was a mere centimeter away of the brooch. If he could get just a bit further away...

Sans winked. "relax. i'm not angry or anything. i'm curious, i just want a few answers. mind if we talk?"

 _I can't tell him the complete truth. There must be a few parts I could tell, but_ — The door of the bedroom opened, hitting the end of the car bed. "SANS? SYPHUS?"

"welp"

Papyrus peered through the open space, seeing Syphus held against the wall. The tall skeleton moved the car bed effortlessly and entered the room, carrying a bowl of a sludge that was supposed to be soup. "SANS! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

"hey. we're just talking" Sans said, Syphus nodding in agreement. _Damnit, no! Please leave, Papyrus!_ The last thing he needed right now was more people in the room.

"WHERE IS SYPHUS? WHO'S THE NEW HUMAN?"

"that's syphus, paps. he had a costume"

Papyrus' eye sockets widened a bit. "OH! WELL THAT WAS AN EXTRAORDINARE COSTUME!" Papyrus left the bowl aside, staring at Syphus with a bit of admiration "BUT YOU SHOULDN'T TREAT OUR FRIENDS LIKE THIS, SANS!"

"i'll let him go in a moment. there's just a few things i want to ask"

"YOU CAN TALK WITHOUT PINNING HIM TO THE WALL!"

"Papyrus, it's okay. Everything is in o-order" Syphus managed to say, smiling dopily "We're just talking"

"REALLY? EVERYTHING IS OKAY?"

"Peachy as peachy can be!" _Please, just go!_ Syphus renewed his efforts to try to reach the brooch, once again the tip of his fingers mere millimeters away of the object. If he could reach just a bit more, enough to press it, it'd all be okay, especially now that Papyrus was distracting Sans, although Sans was hoping too Papyrus would leave for a moment.

"see? we're just talking"

"I SEE, BUT I ALSO INSIST" Papyrus put his gloved hand on Sans' shoulder "PLEASE LET HIM GO, SANS" The contact made Sans be distracted just enough for his magic to falter for a short moment, moment Syphus didn't waste. Although he was still pinned to the wall, he managed to move to the right just enough to be able to reach the brooch. His fingers pressed the brooch, turning it on.

"what are you—?"

"SY-?"

What Syphus hadn't realized was that he wasn't going to dive into Frisk's SOUL alone if he was in contact with someone else. Sans being in direct contact with Syphus' SOUL via magic, and Papyrus being in direct contact with Sans meant there'd be two unexpected companions. The three of them lost consciousness, Syphus falling from the wall to the floor in a heap and Papyrus following suit, while Sans seemed to have fallen asleep standing up.

-ooooo-

The sound of gentle breeze was back again. Syphus groaned, holding his head, and rose from the floor with his eyes closed. Why did the dive into someone's SOUL have to be so head-splitting? Slowly, the piece opened his eyes and examined his surroundings.

It seemed this time he had been the first one to wake up, Sans and Papyrus were out cold not too far away. "...this isn't how I thought this'd go. I'm so sorry, guys..." The skeletons seemed to be okay, so Syphus focused on everything around him. "So this is Frisk's SOUL..." Alphonse had mentioned the ruinous house they had appeared at was a place they cherished, so it'd make sense if Frisk's SOUL had the form of a place important to them in some way. _Isn't this...?_

There was no doubt, this was the surface of Mt. Ebott. Grass, rocks, bushes, a very cloudy sky over their heads...and a familiar city in the distance. Other than breeze there were no other sounds. The dirt and rocks seemed clay-like yet durable, but when Syphus moved a large rock he found there was nothing below it. It was as if he was standing on a thick layer of dirt and no more, underneath the dirt there was no more than an inky darkness that seemed to move. Gasping, Syphus stepped away from the hole. The plants all seemed to be strangely colored, as if the natural green and yellow tones were desaturated. The lighting in the mountain was what one would expect from such a heavily clouded sky, with one single exception:

One shaft of light descending from a hole on the sky, illuminating a section of the mountain far away. It was a strange light, clear and pristine, and Syphus felt strangely compelled to go to the illuminated place, like a moth to a flame. It was a strong feeling; one he barely was able to resist.

A loud groan behind him made Syphus turn around, the skeleton brothers were waking up. "...we got to the surface already?"

"THIS IS THE SURFACE? IT LOOKS..." Papyrus gestured around with his hands "...WEIRD. REALLY WEIRD!"

"hey, 'phus, how did we get here?"

"'phus?" Syphus mumbled with distaste and shook his head "Okay, the nickname is no big deal right now. Listen, guys, we're...we're not on the surface"

Sans looked upwards. "there's nothing above. we can't be in the underground"

"The truth is that we are in...in..." Syphus twiddled his thumbs, mulling how he should say it. Since he had unwittingly dragged them here then they deserved to know the truth, didn't they? "We're in the human child's SOUL"

"I SEE! YES, THAT'S AN ANSWER TO THE QUESTION" Papyrus didn't seem to really be taking too seriously the fact they were in a place directly linked to Frisk's SOUL, while Sans stared at Syphus, his grin unmoving.

"...come again?" he finally asked.

"We're in the child's SOUL. This you see is like—it's a representation of their SOUL. That's all"

"right. mind telling me how we got here?"

Syphus smiled sheepishly. "That's what the brooch was for, to be able to enter here. I was going to get here by myself, but things happened and now you two joined me for the ride! Haha...funny how life is, right?"

"WE SHOULDN'T STAY! I HAVE NEVER BEEN IN SOMEONE'S SOUL BEFORE, BUT I DON'T THINK IT'S A PLACE WE SHOULD BE AT" Papyrus ascended a bit further onto the mountain "HOW DO WE GET OUT?"

"That's the problem here, I have reasons to believe Frisk has the brooch. To get out we need to find them" Easier said than done, of course. It was a _mountain_ , not exactly a small place. Syphus took the halberd out of his jacket, extending it and slowly swinging it around. With some luck he wouldn't need to fight too much with it, but knowing how things had gone so far, he wasn't counting on that.

"THAT'S THEIR NAME? FRISK?" Syphus nodded "IT'S A NICE NAME. ALRIGHT! FRISK MAY BE OVER THERE, WHERE THE LIGHT IS! I FEEL THAT'S WHERE WE SHOULD GO"

"...it's weird, i feel it too. what's up with that?"

"I don't know, but if we all think we should go there maybe Frisk felt it too" Syphus slammed the bottom of the halberd onto the ground, trying to look as serious as possible. "Listen, you two: don't get away of me. This place could be dangerous"

Papyrus glanced at Sans with worried expression, knowing Sans was in particular danger, given his extremely low HP. "THERE'S NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, SHALL PROTECT US ALL!"

"we knew we could count on you, bro"

Syphus frowned. If he was given a Persona it was for a reason, wasn't it? Fighting with the monsters' magic or with physical weapons may not be enough. "We'll see. Stay behind me, you two" Thankfully, they were reasonable enough and obeyed, getting behind Syphus "Keep your eye sockets and...whatever you hear with open. We don't know if anything could ambush us" Syphus said, walking and looking around him. It was all pretty silent, except for the breeze moving the leaves of the desaturated plants. _Do Shadows even make noise?_

"what's the danger, 'phus?"

"Shadows. There could be Shadows in this place. You'll understand once we encounter them" _I'm hoping we won't, of course._

It was as if this Mt. Ebott was crumbling away. The part where they had all arrived at had been largely intact, but once the three started the walk in direction of the light, the drier and more broken the path seemed. Cracks, holes, even sections of lands floating in ways that were obviously impossible, it all formed obstacles. Neither Sans, with his perchance for teleporting from one place to another in the blink of an eye, nor Papyrus, with his rather long legs, had trouble, unlike Syphus, who more than once was in danger of not being able to make the necessary jumps. After the third time his foot slipped when landing and he almost lost his balance, he started to consider Sans and Papyrus' presence more as a blessing than as an unfortunate accident. They had saved him a couple times already.

Just like Syphus expected, there were Shadows loitering around, most likely emotions and thoughts from Frisk's subconscious. "Stay back!" Syphus ordered, seeing a small group of Shadows not too far away, the first encounter they had. The Shadows seemed to be no more than black oily blobs, with masks and arms.

"those are shadows? they don't seem very dangerous" Sans commented, although he stood between Papyrus and Syphus, just in case.

"THEY ALMOST LOOK LIKE MONSTERS"

"They're not monsters!" Syphus categorically said "You can't reason or appeal to Shadows"

"ARE YOU SURE? MAYBE WE SHOULD TRY!"

"i think we should listen to him, bro. he must know what he's talking about" _Joke's on you, Sans, I'm as lost as you are._ Syphus thought wryly and clutched the pole of the halberd, slowly stepping forward. None of the Shadows seemed to have noticed their presence yet, an advantage he was thankful for.

 _Well, here goes nothing._ Maybe attacking first would give him some sort of advantage? The less trouble he had fighting these things, the better. Syphus slowly raised the halberd, slowed down his breathing, and with a cry of fear and determination he slammed the dull blade of the halberd onto one of the Shadows' heads, a disgusting squelching noise indicating the blade had sliced deep into the Shadow, right behind the mask. Although it seemed the Shadow was little more than a jellified blob of ink and matter, the halberd did do sizable damage, although not enough to kill it immediately.

"Stay back!" Syphus shouted to the skeletons, just in case, and focused on his first fight. Depending from how things went here he'd know how well any future fights would go. _What are these?_ Syphus wondered while the Shadows were approaching closer, crawling with surprising speed.

 ** _Frivolous Maya, a very basic type of Shadow. Its attacks tend to be of electric nature._**

 ** _Desirous Maya, a very basic type of Shadow. It's likely to try to weaken the party._**

It seemed he had accidentally requested an analysis from a third party. A familiar female voice sounded in his mind, distracting him from the incoming attack from the so-called Desirous Maya. The blob raised one of its arms high, the edges acquiring some sharpness and swinging it towards Syphus, aiming to slice his torso. The man barely had time to dodge, the tip of the foe's fingers grazing his jacket. The rest of the Shadows didn't waste time either, two of them charging up a magic electric attack and aiming towards Syphus. Electrical arcs emerged from the fingers of the Mayas, ascending into the sky before going downwards and impacting on the ground around Syphus, close enough for him to feel the strength of the electrical current. The problem was clear: he was largely outnumbered, but he refused to stand down and regroup.

As soon as the electric current vanished Syphus jumped forward, using the weight of the halberd as a way to impulse himself, and slammed the spike right into one of the Mayas, right below the mask, and immediately pulling it off and swinging it to a side, impacting the Shadow he had hit and started the fight with, killing it and making it disappear into a puff of black smoke. "W-Whoa!" the disappearance of the Shadow was unexpected, the momentum of the halberd unbalanced him. He didn't fall to the floor, but the split second he lost his footing was enough for the foes to strike him.

A sharpened arm slammed him on the back, knocking his breath off. While Syphus tried to regain his breath, he hurried to try to gain some distance, hearing the crackle of electricity and the sound of an impact right in the place he had been standing at. _This better work!_ Syphus turned back, having gained a bit of time, and focused. He had barely recalled the name of his Persona when Ouroboros emerged from him in a flash of light, the big chained empty hood on the triquetra towering over the foes. The Persona's arrival seemed to have deterred the Shadows, slowing them down momentarily, moment Syphus used to hit one with the halberd.

Commanding the Persona's movements while staying focused on the fight was very difficult, having to move his body and mentally direct the Persona's actions at the same time. The Shadows ignored the Persona altogether, focusing on attacking Syphus himself, forcing him to stay on his toes. Syphus instinctually had a faint inkling of what Ouroboros' available attacks were. Crystals of ice formed in the core of the Shadows, encasing part of them before shattering and causing damage. A pattern emerged quickly, while Syphus fought with the closest Maya, through Ouroboros' magic he dealt with the other two, whittling them down with ice.

"Done! Finally!" Syphus proclaimed, burying the spike of the halberd in the last Maya's head and seeing the foe disappear. To Syphus the fight seemed to take a while, but to the skeletons it had all taken a minute and little more. Papyrus hurried to Syphus' side, looking respectful and worried at the same time.

"ARE YOU OKAY? YOU GOT HIT!"

Syphus doubled over, feeling his back aching. He had been lucky he hadn't received more damage, but his back hurt way too much to ignore it. "I'm fine, I'll just...walk it off" _It isn't like I have any other option._

"you should let us lend you a hand" Sans said, appraising the Persona. How had it emerged from Syphus? Was it something anyone could do from within a SOUL or something? Although Sans tried, he couldn't make anything like Syphus' Persona appear.

"I don't think it's a good idea if you don't have one of those" Syphus said, slowly straightening up and trying not to hurt his back even more. When Sans asked what it was and how to summon one, Syphus' mouth formed a thin line. "...I don't know how you could get one"

"SINCE YOU'RE HURT YOU SHOULD HANG ONTO ME TO CROSS THE NEXT GAP. HANG ON TIGHT!"

Syphus raised his hands. "Papyrus, I don't think it'll be necessary to—aaah!" without even letting Syphus finish, Papyrus grabbed the back of his jacket and raised him in the air effortlessly.

"PLEASE DON'T PROTEST! YOU CAN'T DO THIS ALONE, AND WE MUST HELP EACH OTHER TO ARRIVE TO THE LIGHT SAFE AND SOUND. LET'S CONTINUE LOOKING FOR FRISK!" he said, taking Syphus away while approaching the next gap to get over onto. The Persona faded away, and Sans stood there for a moment, observing what seemed to be a city in the distance.

Things truly had derailed from any concept of normalcy he had, there were no doubts now. Before following Syphus and Papyrus, the former still protesting about having to cling to Papyrus to cross the gaps, Sans picked up several small metallic orbs that seemed to have fallen from the Shadows, materials he didn't recognize. Maybe studying those would help him understand better what was going on with this supposed 'Frisk's SOUL' world.

-ooooo-

The terrain progressively started getting more stable and with less rifts to cross, although the level of ink and matter in the inside of the mountain had increased, spilling onto the surface of the earth in several places. The closer they were getting to the illuminated area of the mountain, the stronger the Shadows were. Luckily for Syphus, he had also gained a couple Personas more, somehow. He couldn't explain exactly how, all he knew was that after having finished a fight against another group of Shadows, he was suddenly aware he had a new Persona. So far he had gained a tiny fairy-like Persona – Pixie, that seemed to be its name – which had turned out to be rather useful to heal himself, and Omoikane – some sort of bizarre tentacled brain Persona Syphus felt really awkward summoning – providing some basic electric attacks and resistance towards the most common type of Mayas in Frisk's SOUL. Overall he wasn't doing too badly, but he could be doing much better.

Papyrus had carried Syphus on his back for quite a while. Since Syphus was just a foot or so shorter than Papyrus, he felt ridiculous having to be carried, feeling he voiced several times. "YOU NEED TO SAVE YOUR STRENGTH! UNDYNE SAYS THAT KNOWING YOUR LIMITS IS VERY IMPORTANT. ALWAYS REMEMBER THAT!" he had said after the third time Syphus tried to say he didn't need to be carried. Sans had been more or less content with following from behind, picking up the debris and unusual materials Shadows left when they were defeated, although from time to time he told them to wait behind while he went ahead and checked what kind of Shadows were ahead.

"i may not look like it, but i'm rather good at dodging and staying safe" he had said with a wink when Syphus suggested him to stop going ahead. Sans vanished and was back in matter of seconds, the lights in his eye sockets a bit contracted "there are more of those fish Shadows ahead" Syphus groaned. The Calm Pesces had proven to be especially annoying, as they were completely immune to the ice magic and showed to be remarkably resistant to anything he did with the halberd.

"How many?"

"two. there's also a beetle thing with them"

"That's new" Syphus got off Papyrus' back, swiveling from side to side to see if his back was any better. It didn't hurt anymore, but it felt a bit stiff. Syphus readied the halberd, already making some sort of plan. _Ouroboros should be able to get rid of the beetle Shadow while I kill the Calm Pesces. Shouldn't be too much of a problem_ he thought, raising his halberd when the Shadows noticed him approaching. He was starting to get used to fighting, although being hit by the Shadows and by their magic attacks still hurt way too much to get used to. If it weren't for Pixie he'd have died already.

The Calm Pesces moved first, hovering to Syphus to try to ram him with their noses. Syphus dodged to a side, taking advantage of the floating fishes' slow movements, and summoned Ouroboros to deal with the beetle, having requested a quick analysis from the voice he had identified as Lucia.

 ** _Adamant Beetle. Rather strong physically._**

 _Then I'll have to blast it with magic and hope for the best_. While Ouroboros kept the Adamant Beetle at bay with Bufu ice magic, Syphus aimed the blade of the halberd to the spaces between the coils of paper that formed one of the fish Shadows, swinging it straight into the empty shell that formed its body, trying to rip it apart. Having been struck directly onto the inside of its belly with the blade, the Pesce struggled to get away, but Syphus didn't let it go, dragging it away and avoiding the other Pesce when it spun in the air and tried to hit him on the head with its tail. Syphus pressed the blade further, a satisfying tearing noise resonating when the Pesce turned inert and disappeared.

The noise seemed to have gotten the Beetle's attention, as in a wrong move Syphus did with Ouroboros it moved away and focused on Syphus instead, charging towards him, his horn glowing with a threatening strength.

Syphus barely managed to turn around and block the horn with the handle of his halberd, the bamboo wood creaking under the impact, the Beetle recoiling and falling back. Seeing a chance to strike, Syphus raised the halberd high and swung it with all his might on the Beetle's head.

That was a mistake. The halberd blade bounced on the Beetle, and Syphus felt the strength of his attack hurt him. With a cry of pain, Syphus stepped back, his halberd at the ready to block anything the Beetle would do and accidentally leaving his back unprotected. Syphus didn't notice the Pesce approaching him, aiming with its nose towards the piece's back for a rather damaging strike.

"WATCH OUT!"

Syphus jumped to a side, too late to avoid the hit, or at least it would have been too late if it weren't because of the wall of bones that emerged between Syphus and the Pesce. The Shadow slammed against the bones, getting hurt gravely. A bit stunned, Syphus glanced towards the skeleton brothers.

Papyrus had extended his hand forward, making the bones appear from the ground, and while the Pesce tried to regain its bearings Sans followed up Papyrus' attack, more bones emerging and moving across the field until they hit the Pesce. "you deal with that one" Sans said, preparing more bones while Papyrus raised walls to separate the Pesce from Syphus and dividing the field in two.

Sans' attacks were rather weak, but a constant barrage of bones eliminated the threat. While the skeletons attacked the Pesce, Syphus fully focused on the Beetle, changing his Persona to Omoikane and firing electric Zio spells over and over, despite how taxing it was in his mind. Omoikane's magic was reasonably strong and soon managed to kill the Beetle, ending the fight and letting Syphus rest. The piece plopped on the dirt, breathing raggedly. "You guys...saved my hide. Thanks for...for...for saving me" he puffed between breaths.

"WE WEREN'T GOING TO STAND BACK WHILE YOU WERE IN DANGER!" Papyrus affirmed, his cape billowing in the breeze.

"i'm not really the type to fight" Sans said, his hands deep into the pockets of his hoodie "but i guess i could give you a hand sometimes until we're out of here". Sans would have preferred to stand back and let things happen, but in a completely unfamiliar situation he guessed no other timeline had, he supposed he should do the bare minimum to get back to normalcy.

Syphus closed his eyes and sat, taking out of his pocket a strange viscous drop he had found around that supposedly would help him recover his strength to use the Personas. After crushing it and feeling his head get a little bit lighter and less pained, he sighed, nodding slowly. "Fine. I admit I may have been a bit over my head when I said I could fight alone"

"just a bit?" Sans' grin seemed to enlarge a bit.

"Fine, more than just a bit. The point is that...your help will be useful. Just be careful. If your attacks get reflected like it happened to me I don't think you two will survive it" Syphus pointedly looked at Sans, who shrugged nonchalantly.

"guess that's something to _reflect_ on"

Papyrus stifled a sudden laugh, making his best annoyed face. "SANS! NOW'S NOT THE TIME FOR JOKES!"

"if not now then when? during a fight?"

"...POINT TAKEN. JOKE ALL YOU WANT RIGHT NOW"

-ooooo-

"Sans!"

"SANS!"

Papyrus and Syphus were running down the cracked path. The most recent fight they had gotten into was unexpectedly difficult. Despite their best efforts, the Shadow had managed to decrease their defense, leaving them way too vulnerable to its ice attacks. Although Syphus would be okay, thanks to Ouroboros' resistance to ice, Papyrus didn't have the same advantage, forcing them to retreat. Sans was nowhere to be seen, having left when the fight started. _For his sake he better be scouting ahead or I'm going to—_ The Tranquil Idol was slow, but its Bufu spells were still appearing all around them despite the distance.

There was Sans! Right ahead, at the bifurcation of the path, waving disinterestedly at them. "We have trouble behind us!" Syphus shouted at him, grasping his halberd and looking back. The Idol was levitating towards them, sitting on its pyramid altar and preparing more ice spells.

"alright, here you go" A thick wall of cyan bones erupted from the ground right in front of the Shadow, who, not knowing the intricacies of the attack, started crossing the wall, accumulating damage. It didn't even get to half of the wall before dying. "done"

Huffing, Syphus scowled at Sans. "A bit more of _timely_ help would be good, Sans!"

"WHERE WERE YOU?!"

"scouting ahead. we'll be getting to the light in no time if we go through this road" Sans pointed with his thumb at a steep path that was crawling full of Shadows, then to another one that went downwards "this one will be a long walk but it has nothing in it"

"So, what should we do?"

"the second path is the best, obviously"

"ANY SIGNS OF THE HUMAN?"

"nope. they must be somewhere under the light"

Papyrus frowned and stepped towards the steep path. "WE SHOULD GET THERE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! WHAT DO YOU SAY, SYPHUS?"

"...I don't think I'm ready for everything that's in there" he said. It was true, his head was throbbing from the mental effort to summon Personas and use their magic, and his arms and shoulders were sore from swinging the halberd. Running into the swarm of Shadows would be too risky in that state "I say we don't do much effort for a while"

"i second the motion"

Papyrus's shoulders dropped. He was worried about Frisk and wanted to find them as soon as possible to escape this weird place full of creatures trying to kill them – he refused to believe this mountain could be Frisk's SOUL – but he didn't want to push Syphus beyond his limits, either. Sans seemed to be okay and he himself had more than enough energy to keep going, but Papyrus refused to ignore the needs of anyone in the team. "ALLOW ME" he said, taking the halberd out of Syphus' hands. Syphus sighed in relief, rubbing his sore arms.

"Thanks, Papyrus"

"YOU DON'T NEED TO THANK ME! YOU CAN ALWAYS COUNT ON PAPYRUS, YOUR PARTNER IN SOUL EXPLORING!"

The downwards path was like Sans had said: there were no Shadows at all, and although it was certainly longer than the more dangerous road, it wasn't as long as Syphus feared. The light was almost above their heads, the three of them could see the illuminated terrain with detail. Encouraged by the closeness of their objective, Papyrus went ahead, still carrying the halberd.

"so, what's your story?" Sans asked, deciding to ask now that his brother was away.

Syphus glanced at Sans with the corner of his eyes. "What do you mean?" he asked, trying to gain a few seconds to think what to say "If you're going to ask about why one of the things I can summon is a scantily clad blonde angel I swear I don't know"

"that's still a very weird thing but that's not what I was asking about" Sans shook his head, remembering the Persona Syphus was talking about "come on, bud. you're a human pretending to be a monster. you have a brooch that opens portals into people's SOULs. we're walking inside a SOUL and fighting weird beings. there must be a story behind this all"

One didn't need to be perceptive to notice Syphus was an extremely strange person with even stranger circumstances, and Syphus knew it, but he hadn't thought yet of an explanation to give. He had hoped the topic would simply not come up. It was a childish hope, now that he thought about it. "There's no big mystery, Sans. The brooch makes me look like a monster, and the whole SOUL thing is something I don't understand yet"

"why do you have something to enter SOULs?" he almost added that Syphus knew he had to put it on Frisk and activate it in order to save the child, but he decided to leave that for some other time.

 _Stop asking questions I can't answer, Sans_! "A friend gave it to me and told me it'd come useful"

Sans closed his eye sockets, his grin getting a bit bigger. The brooch was something that went beyond the scope of what monsters could do with their magic. It could be done with technology, he guessed, but he was rather sure there was no technology involved. In that case, there was one single person Sans could think that could have given him that. "the witch of hope?"

Syphus' head turned around so fast he thought he'd snap it off his neck. "Where did you hear that?!"

"i have my sources" he replied, nonchalant, as if he hadn't just revealed something he shouldn't know by any means "do you know what you're doing with the SOUL exploring and the brooch?"

"...to be honest I don't know anything. All I know is that I need to do this" that wasn't entirely a lie, he felt woefully uninformed. Sans looked at Syphus, trying to determine if he was telling the truth. Something in Syphus' face tipped him off that yes, it was the truth...mostly. Sans wasn't sure if that was good, or if that was bad news.

"right. who are you?"

"I'm just a human who fell into the Underground" he refused to look at Sans. The skeleton didn't need to be so good at reading expressions to know that was a complete lie.

"that's it? no more to say?"

"I told you there's no big mystery, Sans. Don't pay attention to me" he refused to say anything else, so Sans didn't waste time asking. Sans quietly decided something: he'd let Syphus do whatever he wanted. If Syphus wanted to traipse through SOULs and save unconscious people, then so be it. It was more important to know why and how Frisk had suffered this, and hope no one else in the Underground would experience something similar, monster or not.

-ooooo-

The golden light felt warm and nice compared to the humid air in the rest of the mountain. As soon as the three crossed the threshold into the light, they felt reenergized. The soreness didn't go away, but Syphus felt with enough strength to fight again. "Alright, Frisk must be somewhere around here" Syphus said, looking around. The plants were lush and green, and the dirt had moss and small plants everywhere. It felt like a completely different place, compared to the rest of the mountain. "This must be the deepest part of his SOUL or something"

"why is their SOUL the mountain above the underground?"

"SOULs take the form of a place that's important for the person" And since the mountain was the place Frisk went to – for reasons Syphus didn't know – and found a whole new world and monsters residing under the mountain, it was no surprise it had caused such impression their SOUL took this form.

"HEY! WHAT'S THAT OVER THERE!" Papyrus had still been walking ahead, avoiding the Mayas and Bronze Dice that were crawling around the place. He pointed at what looked like a cave above a rocky plateau. Syphus froze, looking at the plateau. He recognized it. He had seen it in his original timeline, this was the place where Chara had stayed at for centuries, the place with a dozen caverns into the wall of mountain, the hole that'd led to...of course! The deepest part of Frisk's SOUL could only be the point where their life changed and got turned upside-down, the place that marked the transition between their past life and their journey through the Underground:

The cave with the hole they had fell through.

Papyrus was already climbing the wall, inching closer and closer to the edge. It was very easy for him to climb, thanks to his long frame, and soon Papyrus was able to look over the rock. "YIKES!" he suddenly yelped, letting himself drop down to the ground where Syphus and Sans were waiting.

"What? What's up there?"

"THERE'S A SHADOW IN FRONT OF THE CAVE. IT LOOKS VERY STRONG!"

"like one of those we already defeated?"

"IT'S A NEW ONE. IT LOOKS LIKE A WARRIOR!"

That sounded rather bad. Except for the Tranquil Idols, so far the Shadows had been generally simple: generic blobs, animals, objects like dice or tiaras with hair...nothing like 'a warrior'. Syphus gripped his halberd and looked at the wall to climb. It was going to be a problem to get up there with the collapsible halberd weighing him down even if he kept it inside his jacket, and once he did, it was possible he wouldn't have time to be ready before the Shadow attacked. "there's no problem. follow me" Sans entered the small grove aside the path.

"SANS, YOU KNOW I HATE WARPING" he protested, but followed him nonetheless. The three walked between the trees for a couple meters before exiting right above the plateau, the Shadow they had been alerted about roaming there.

"W-Wait, how did we get up here...?"

"surprise, 'phus"

Syphus shook his head, deciding to ask about Sans' skill later. "Okay, nevermind that. Think we can run to the cave without being seen?"

"WE COULD WARP IN THERE!"

"nope we couldn't. i have never been inside that cave"

"But then how did you warp up here—aw, nevermind!" _You just don't want to make the effort, don't you, Sans?_ It wasn't like anyone could force Sans to take them there, even if it'd be convenient beyond any measure, so instead Syphus focused on the Shadow.

It looked rather strong and unusually detailed, compared to every other Shadow so far. The Shadow was tall, armored, and seemed to have a sword prepared to attack. The cave the group was planning to go into was too far away, it was unavoidable they'd have to fight it, or at least keep it busy until they could pass through. _This is going to be a tough one_ Syphus thought, mentally browsing all the Personas he had gathered so far. None seemed especially useful against that enemy, so he decided to use Ouroboros out of familiarity.

"LET ME TRY THIS" Papyrus raised his hand towards the Shadow and attempted to turn its SOUL blue to move it away. Nothing happened.

"I think most Shadows don't have SOULs, Papyrus" Syphus tried to sharpen the halberd against a rock without achieving much "We'll have to fight"

"welp. good luck, guys" Sans winked and sat against a tree. While Papyrus bellowed about how Sans should help too, Syphus started to approach slowly, taking deep breaths and with the halberd at the ready. _Everything's going to be fine. We defeat this thing, go inside the cave and find Frisk. No big deal_ he told himself over and over, trying to gather enough courage to attack without fear.

It didn't work.

 ** _Hakurou Musha. Extremely agile._**

 _Agile?_ The Musha took out the sword, holding it and moving forward towards Syphus. The Shadow didn't seem to be that agile, its movements were predictable and the armor seemed rather heavy. When the Musha swung its sword, trying to slice Syphus, he dodged it easily and attempted to make a hit of his own.

It was as if time froze for a moment for Syphus. One moment the Musha was to his side, directly on the path of the halberd, the next moment it was on the other side of the plateau, the halberd hitting the floor instead of the Musha. "Wait, what?!" taking advantage of the situation, the Musha ran back, aiming the tip of the sword right at Syphus' chest.

"I'M HERE!" Bones slid across the ground right to the point the Musha would be at, but it saw the attack coming, jumping back and dodging it with ease and moving to attack Papyrus. The skeleton, not expecting the Shadow to change targets that quickly, avoided the Musha's onslaught with difficulty, the tip of the sword grazing his armor several times. "THIS IS BAD!"

Syphus focused, quickly thinking of a plan and changing Persona to Angel, he remembered a skill it had. _Come on, what is its name...? Sukukaja_! Having increased his own agility to evade and attack, Syphus chased after the Musha, raising the halberd blade high in the air to attempt to hit the foe in the back of its helmet, but despite his improved speed the Musha dodged it way too easily, instead the halberd almost hitting Papyrus. "Damn it!"

"STAY STILL!" Papyrus warned and summoned light blue bones, launching those through the ground towards the Musha and through where Syphus was standing, having frozen right in time. There was no way the Shadow could know it had to stay still! And indeed, it didn't know. Instead it jumped high, way over the bones, and fell sword first towards Papyrus, who wouldn't be able to move in time to dodge it, nor Syphus had enough time to attack.

Suddenly, a blast of magic came from the edge of the grove, hitting the Musha on its side and launching it away of Papyrus, hitting the ground with a loud thud. Looking towards the grove, Syphus saw Sans standing there, a large animal-like skull floating to his side. He didn't even have time to thank Sans for his quick action when the Musha stood up in one swift move, using its sword as impulse to leap forward, trying to slash Papyrus again. "Don't stop moving!" Syphus shouted to Papyrus and changed plans. If trying to hit the Musha with the halberd and with bones wasn't going to work, then the Personas were the only option left.

And indeed, it was more effective! It didn't seem like Angel's Garu wind spells were hurting it much, but at least the Musha was being hit, and sometimes it would stun it for long enough for Papyrus' bones to collide against it. The Musha, seemingly getting more furious at how the group was finally managing to harm it, used its sword to block all the bones Papyrus was throwing at him, moving through them towards Papyrus. _Why is it so focused on him?!_

It was matter of time before the Musha managed to strike Papyrus, despite Syphus and Sans' efforts to keep him at bay. The Shadow's sword swung through the air, the blade embedding into Papyrus' chest plate, dust leaking from the hole in the armor. Papyrus shrieked, very alarmed and tried to get away, but the Musha got the sword out of the hole it had made and moved to strike again. Before it could do much more harm to Papyrus by attacking his head or through the hole it had made through the chest plate, Sans' Blaster fired at the Musha, making it move away from Papyrus.

"you okay?!" Sans shouted from the grove. Papyrus, in shock, touched the hole in his chest plate while Syphus changed Personas and continued attacking the Musha with ice magic. That was way too close. If the sword had gotten just a little bit deeper, it'd have cut Papyrus' spine in two. It was already very lucky the blade had been inserted between his ribs.

"YEAH...YEAH! I'M—I'M FINE! VERY FINE!" Papyrus shouted back, slowly snapping out of his shock, and focused back into the battle. Syphus' Persona – Ouroboros – was moving against the Musha, following it while using ice spells and trying to push it away with its wide frame. Now that the Shadow had managed to harm Papyrus it had stopped focusing on him, instead going for Syphus.

"If you can keep it busy I can try something!" Syphus shouted, starting to sweat due to the fatigue. Papyrus nodded and restarted his regular attacks, forming patterns and attempting to slam the Shadow. Seeing his chance, Syphus quickly changed Personas, summoning Apsaras, which seemed to be exclusively geared towards healing and status boosts. Hoping the Persona's skills would work even towards someone who didn't have a Persona, Syphus attempted to heal Papyrus with it.

"Do you feel better?!" Syphus changed back to Ouroboros to continue his ice attacks. Papyrus stepped back, gaining some distance from the Musha just in case it changed targets, and nodded after thinking it for a second. He did feel better, less shaken up, and the dust had stopped.

The fight continued for quite a while. Despite Syphus' attempts to find if the Musha had a weakness while Papyrus kept it busy dodging and sometimes scoring a hit, it seemed like the Shadow had no weaknesses. Neither ice nor wind nor electricity had hurt it more than normal, and its evasion of physical attacks was as remarkable as ever. Not only that, the Musha's attacks had turned stronger, his sword glowing with a blinding shine when he tried to slash Syphus. He could feel the crackle of a strange power coming from the sword each time he dodged it.

"We're getting nowhere!" Syphus shouted after a few minutes of fighting, starting to feel very tired from his constant moving and his use of Personas. The Musha strode through the plateau to the edge of the grove, near where Sans was, but ignored the skeleton. Instead the Musha stood completely still and raised its sword up, aiming at the sky. Its entire body and armor gained a subtle light.

"guys, don't get hit! i think it charged up power"

"Agh, fantastic, just what we needed" Syphus mumbled, making sure to stay as far as possible from the Shadow, while moving Ouroboros closer to restart the ice spells. He felt he wouldn't last much longer; his concentration was starting to fade and the Persona was starting to move erratically. That's when the Musha did something Syphus never expected.

It attacked the Persona, striking it with its charged-up sword, a direct hit. The sword passed through Ouroboros, the Persona not reacting at all besides being moved aside, but Syphus felt the entire brunt of the attack.

It felt as if something had exploded inside his head. Suddenly, an immeasurably sharp pain erupted. Syphus doubled over in pain, clutching his head, unable to notice anything that wasn't the pain. He cried in pain, tears starting to stream down his face, feeling dizzy and deaf. Slowly, Syphus fell on his knees, trying to stay conscious. The attack would have hurt a lot if done like normal, but since it was charged up it had brought Syphus to the brink of death. He wanted to stand up, but he couldn't focus not even to do that simple task. He couldn't see the Musha attacking Papyrus and hitting him, stunning him, then bolting towards the piece with its sword aiming to crack Syphus' head open.

A strange noise sounded right above him. After a few seconds that seemed like eternity to him, Syphus blinked several times to dispel the tears and looked upwards, seeing a bone mere inches from his face, and the steel of the Shadow's sword right behind it. "S-Sans...?" Sans was there, having warped from the grove to Syphus' side, blocking the sword with a bone and struggling to keep the edge of the sword away from Syphus.

"move"

Trying not to lose focus and start throwing up from the throbbing inside his head, Syphus dragged himself away from Sans and the Musha, crawling backwards until he was far enough. The Shadow tried to follow Syphus, but Papyrus placed more bones in the way. Trembling and coughing, Syphus stood up shakily, something primal growing in his chest. "I...I had enough of this..." he muttered, then shouted: "Hold it down!" _We won't get anywhere if it keeps moving. We need to finish it off!_

Sans didn't acknowledge Syphus, simply making a Gaster Blaster appear right above the Shadow, and firing it at point blank. The strength of the impact forced the Musha flat onto the ground on its belly, hurting it constantly. Trying to use the last bits of his mental strength, Syphus summoned Ouroboros once more, but instead of attacking he simply let Ouroboros fall down onto the Musha with all its weight. The Persona fell right through the Blaster and onto the Shadow, pinning it to the ground. "P-Papyrus! Do something!"

"HERE I GO! A STRONG ATTACK!" Papyrus raised both hands, a veritable platform made of light blue bones went through the entire Musha without reaching Ouroboros. The Shadow's struggles to get Ouroboros off it only hurt it further, a cycle that kept depleting its health constantly until it stopped moving altogether.

Syphus approached slowly, still trembling, expecting to see the Musha spring up at any moment. "Is it...fainted? Dead? Why hasn't it poofed away?" he wondered, picking up the halberd he had dropped.

"dunno. paps, take away the bones" Sans said, and Papyrus did as indicated the Shadow still didn't move "it may have fainted" Syphus poked it with the spike of the halberd, receiving no reaction at all.

"SYPHUS, ARE YOU OKAY? YOU SEEMED TO BE IN A LOT OF PAIN!"

"Y-Y-Yeah, I'm okay..." _I feel like something ran me over._ At least now he knew he should be more careful when handling Personas, if them getting hit would mean he'd receive damage too.

"I CAN CARRY YOU AGAIN IF YOU NEED"

"No, thanks. I just need a moment to recover" he was still dangerously close to death, after all. Syphus hobbled away, leaned on a tree of the grove, and looked in his pocket for several of those curious drops he had gathered during the trek. They were indeed effective in helping him recover his strength to use the Personas, and right now he needed to heal himself a lot. After consuming the Soul Drops, he summoned Apsaras again and healed himself over and over until the headache stopped and he was able to stand up without shaking like jello. "Done. Your turn, Papyrus" he said, returning with the rest and healing Papyrus until he was sure the skeleton was on top shape. The Musha continued unmoving. Could Shadows even faint? Was it faking dead, or something? Why hadn't it vanished away yet?

"let's get going. you think the kid is in here?"

"They must be in there. I don't know where else they could be _" They better be there because if not I don't know what we'll do._

Slowly, with hesitation, the three entered the cave. Right when they stepped inside, there was a noise behind them. The Musha was standing up, holding its sword as if nothing had happened. The three stared for a moment without saying a word, until Sans summoned a Blaster right above the Musha again, firing immediately. This time the Shadow dissolved into smoke. "finally. that one was tough"

The cave wasn't very long. It seemed like trees were lining the walls, as if the mountain had grown around them. Bark and plants filled the cavern, leaving enough space for the three to walk through, until they reached a round chamber at the end.

And there was Frisk standing near the edge of a hole that could lead to an unescapable void, with a SAVE point in their hands and the firefly brooch attached to their sweater.


	10. Fool Arcana

_"Each Arcana has its own meanings. For example, the Fool Arcana...do you know what it symbolizes?"_

 _"I have no idea, Alphonse"_

 _"There's a reason why most of our guests are of the Fool Arcana. It symbolizes spontaneity, faith in oneself, infinite possibilities, and influencing oneself and others. A good guest of the Velvet Room needs all those four"_

 _"Golly...I had no idea it could have so many meanings...so the opposite of those meanings would be..."_

 _"Someone invaded by doubts and constricting themselves, of course. It can be more complicated than that. Want some candy, ASRIEL?"_

* * *

The light pouring through the holes on the ceiling gave the scene a surreal look, as if it was out of a fairytale. Sans, Papyrus and Syphus advanced slowly, Syphus lowering his halberd. Frisk seemed to not to have heard the group arrive, they were still near the edge of the hole, the SAVE point hovering between their hands. The child was staring into the SAVE point as if it was the most beautiful thing they had ever seen. "...Frisk?"

"FRISK! OVER HERE!" Frisk turned around, having recognized Papyrus' voice.

"...Papyrus?" Frisk stared for a moment, surprised, then a sincere smile graced their face "And Sans! And...who are you?" the smile shrunk a bit when they saw Syphus. The three started to approach, relieved.

"They seem to be okay. Come on, Frisk, let's go back"

Frisk didn't reply to that nor moved towards Syphus, instead moving to a side so they could go towards Sans or Papyrus if they wanted. "Where am I?"

"It's a long story. I'll explain later" Syphus said, not really planning to tell Frisk anything. Frisk didn't move, though. The SAVE point hovered closer to their hands while they looked away. "Frisk?"

"...mister...are you in the Underground?"

"Does that really matter?"

"something bothering you, kiddo?" Sans asked, trying to salvage the situation. Syphus in his human form was a complete stranger to Frisk, after all. Maybe talking to someone they already knew would help.

"Who is he?" Frisk asked mutedly to Sans. The question didn't go unheard by Papyrus, who patted Syphus on the shoulder several times, unintentionally making the piece hunch over.

"THIS IS OUR FRIEND, SYPHUS! YOU MUST BE CONFUSED BY HIS HUMANNESS, BUT YOU HAVE MET HIM BEFORE!"

"...really?"

"HE WAS DISGUISED AS A MONSTER! AND HE SAID HE WAS YOUR FRIEND TOO!" Papyrus turned his head towards Syphus "RIGHT?"

"I did, and of course it was the tru—"

"Syphus...? Is that you? But you were a monster—" Frisk shook their head, their expression twisting as if they were in pain. They'd have grabbed their head if they weren't holding the SAVE point.

"Again, I'll explain later. We need to leave, Frisk"

"I don't understand...I don't understand any of this. What's going on?!"

"It's a long story, but—"

"Why is everything so...different? I don't get it, what's going on?!" Frisk raised their voice stepping back and closer to the hole "What's happening in this timeline?!"

"frisk, calm down"

"I can't calm down! I don't understand..." Frisk closed their eyes, cringing, and grabbed their head with their right hand, still holding the SAVE point with the other. No one was sure how to react, none of them had foreseen that Frisk would be reacting like this. They didn't even have time to approach Frisk before the situation got out of their control. How did this happen?

"WHAT'S GOING ON? DID WE SAY SOMETHING BAD?"

And then they opened their eyes.

"I don't...understand...anythiiing..."

Frisk's eyes had turned golden. They seemed to be about to cry although they had no tears in their eyes, but they refused to get any closer to the group, instead clutching the SAVE point to them as if their life depended on that. "Why is everything SO DIFFERENT?!"

"frisk? is this still you?"

They ignored Sans' concerned question, recoiling. "Nothing has gone like it should go! This timeline...it's something I had never seen before. I don't understand! What else is going to happen now?!"

"FRISK?"

"I don't want any of this! I want—I want Mom, and I want to be able to SAVE, I want things to be like they were before!"

Sans started slowly stepping back, there was something very wrong going on with Frisk and he didn't know what to do. Maybe... "you should drop that thing" he said, pointing at the SAVE point "it's making you crazy"

"I'm not crazy, I'm—" Frisk shook their head "This is what I need. If I can't SAVE I'm going to die. I can't continue ahead, but if I don't then no one will leave the Underground. Everyone must leave. That's what I always try to do..." their eyes started welling with tears. "...that is all I know to do"

In that moment the SAVE point started moving. While Frisk talked, it rippled and trembled as if it was a living being starting to wake up, and then long strands sprung from it, wrapping around Frisk's arms and ascending to their torso. Black smoke and red particles, just like what the Shadows turned into when killed, surrounded Frisk, obscuring them. Frisk didn't react at all to the smoke or to the tendrils of the SAVE point trapping them, instead taking a deep breath and stopping crying. "frisk, drop that!" Sans, alarmed, tried to approach, but Frisk turned around and started running. Both Syphus and Papyrus were stunned, caught by surprise by Frisk's tirade and the change in their eyes. They could only stare, horrified, at the changes Frisk's body was going through.

"That's all I know to do...but now..." the SAVE point started engulfing Frisk's body, phasing through their chest and into them. They started oozing a strange golden liquid, as if the SAVE point had melted, and it started enveloping them. Frisk fell down on the floor, and Papyrus, snapping off the stupor, hurried to approach Frisk.

"HANG ON, FRISK! WE'RE GOING TO HELP YOU!" Papyrus tried to grab the bright mass enveloping Frisk, but instead, as if the child had been pulled away, their body was dragged away in direction of the hole in the center.

"Stop them!" Syphus jumped and tried to catch Frisk before the child was dragged over the edge, but they were too slow, slamming against the rocky ground with a groan. During all that Frisk was mostly silent, but the few times they said something, their voice sounded strangely clear despite their body and head being almost entirely enveloped in the SAVE point.

"...I feel so lost..."

Frisk flew over the edge and towards the center of the hole full of ink, levitating in the air right over it, the light filtering from the ceiling shining on them. The slimy yellow film that had covered Frisk started to subside. _What was that?!_ Slowly, Frisk started being shown, and what everyone could see started changing right in front of their eyes. Frisk was undergoing a freaky transformation, their Shadow completely overtaking them. Slowly, their skin and clothing converted into a transparent and fragile glass.

The SAVE point was floating inside their chest. Thick black cords enveloped their wrists and ankles, all tied together and linked to their neck, imprisoning, forcing them to hunch over, not being able to move a limb without pulling everything else. They tried to straighten up, but the binds stopped every single attempt, the most they could do was arch their back and stare ahead. Their face had turned into a cast iron mask of their usual neutral expression, the yellow eyes of Shadow Frisk dimly glowing behind it.

It didn't seem like a strong Shadow, despite it being as big as Papyrus. In fact, it was kind of underwhelming. The Musha had been a more intimidating Shadow, but if this thing had come out of the innermost places of Frisk's SOUL, then it was likely it had something menacing and dangerous prepared _. Hang in there, Frisk, we're going to fix this!_

Papyrus let out a scream of horror at the transformation and scooted back all the way to the wall while Syphus took out the halberd, trying to look braver than they felt. Sans wasn't entirely calm, but he disguised most of his trepidation and hurried to Syphus. "okay, what's going on now?"

"I don't know, but it's not good"

"believe it or not that was kinda obvious. what's up with this...metaphorical thing that overtook frisk?"

"I said I don't know! But we may need to fight" Syphus eyed Shadow Frisk. They seemed to be observing the three, waiting for anyone to make the first move.

"FIGHT? BUT THAT'S FRISK! I DON'T WANT TO HURT THEM!"

 _Frisk was overtaken by that thing. We either fight or we let it kill us._ But was it even possible to hit Shadow Frisk without harming the child it had trapped inside?

Shadow Frisk, seemingly tired of waiting for the group to make their first move, started contorting, trying to move their arms but making their legs and neck twist and move as well. That didn't stop them from using a command, though.

 **Summon**

Oil and ink seeped through the rocky walls, streams of viscous matter pooling on the floor, forming Mayas, dozens and dozens of them, crawling all over the floor and towards the three. The skeletons and Syphus huddled together, looking around to try to see a way to escape from the Mayas, but there were too many to consider such plan. "WHAT DO WE DO? I DON'T WANT TO ATTACK FRISK!"

"any ideas, 'phus?" Sans' grin seemed to have weakened, he was looking around with attention, the Mayas getting closer and closer.

"...I don't know! I never thought..." _something like this would happen_. Syphus swallowed, grasped the halberd until his knuckles turned white, and forced himself to calm down. "Keep those Shadows at bay, guys. I'll try to deal with Frisk"

"DON'T HURT THEM!"

"be careful with them. that kid is counting on us"

Syphus nodded, wishing with all his heart he had a lot more knowledge about the situation, but there was no more time for commiserating about his lack of information. Shadow Frisk was too far away to be hit by the halberd, it seemed the only option would be to use a Persona, preferably one that wouldn't harm it too much. _What are we supposed to do, knock it out?!_

"Here we go" Syphus didn't drop the halberd, in case any Mayas got past the skeletons' efforts, and summoned Angel. As it was the weakest Persona he had that could attack, he thought it'd be a good idea to use it, but he hesitated. The child...would they get injured if he attacked the Shadow? They hoped there'd be some other way of subduing the Shadow that had taken over Frisk, that it wouldn't be necessary to hit it and risk harming Frisk, but they just couldn't think of any alternatives.

Sans and Papyrus worked on their part of the fight, too, keeping the crowd of Mayas away. Every time one of the Mayas died, it was quickly replaced by a new one. Bolts of electricity from the Frivolous Mayas and clouds of poison from the Desirous Mayas drifted through the air, aiming towards the three. Papyrus had formed a wall of blue bones as a measure to guarantee the Mayas wouldn't be able to reach them, but the attacks were an entirely different matter. Trying to deviate the electric spells and the poison with bones was a difficult task, but Papyrus didn't hesitate to try. Sans was more focused on attacking the Mayas taking advantage of those minor Shadows' reduced self-preservation instinct. Blasters and bones hit and hurt the Mayas relentlessly, those who tried to attack getting the brunt of Sans' attacks.

Since the skeleton brothers were rather efficient at fighting back to the Mayas, Syphus had the liberty to focus on Shadow Frisk, being able to use his Personas. Before trying anything he decided to mentally ask for an analysis of the foe.

 **Shadow Frisk. Fool Arcana. No information available**

 _That's of no use at all, damn it!_

"It's your fault. You shouldn't be in this timeline" Shadow Frisk said, glaring.

"It's not _my_ —"

"Shut up!"

Shadow Frisk writhed, unable to escape the bindings that sprung from themselves, and flipped in the air, spinning aimlessly. Their body acquired a dim glow, which exploded outwards before retreating back. Syphus raised the halberd, expecting a beam or any kind of attack, but nothing happened, Frisk continued floating up there. _What was that?"_

 **Their evasion has increased.**

The voice said without Syphus requesting it. _Oh, fantastic. Just what we needed, a harder time hitting it._

"what are you waiting for?!" Sans chided, a second Blaster appearing and firing on the increasingly numerous Mayas.

"I DON'T THINK WE CAN HOLD THEM AWAY FOR LONG!"

Spurred, Syphus directed Angel to move towards Shadow Frisk and start attacking with Garu wind spells. It was rather difficult, though. Shadow Frisk's newfound evasion allowed them to spiral and propel through the air without any trouble despite their binds, curling and floating gracelessly. The wind gusts that tried to hit them missed by mere inches, Shadow Frisk being completely unaffected, even though Syphus willed Angel to use the spells in quick succession, forming a trail.

As soon as the foe had a chance, they uncurled and writhed again, this time focusing on Papyrus. The light blue wall of bones that used to pulverize Mayas effortlessly rapidly started to weaken, the Shadows slipping through the wall. "WHAT HAPPENED?!"

"...that thing possessing the kid isn't going to attack us. they're going to stall us all until we're overcome by these Shadows" Sans' assessment seemed correct, so far Shadow Frisk hadn't tried to attack directly. Could they even attack?

Shadow Frisk seethed so hatefully Syphus shuddered. "You...you can SAVE. You stole that power. Give it back!"

Sans glanced at Syphus. "anything i should know, 'phus?"

"I have no idea, but I need a Blaster here!" Syphus requested, starting to sweat from the mental effort of uselessly trying to hit Shadow Frisk. Attempting to corner them until their evasion boon ran out of juice seemed like a good idea. Sans, having heard that, made a third Blaster form, but the effort of keeping two constantly attacking, as well as using bones, was starting to weaken him. It was one thing to create various Blasters, fire for a couple seconds and make them disappear, what he was doing now was tiring him way more than he usually would be in a fight.

Since Angel didn't work very well, Syphus changed to Ouroboros, hoping ice would work a bit better than wind despite Ouroboros' bulkiness and lack of speed. He started attacking right when Shadow Frisk's evasion returned to normal, the ice magic scoring a hit on them. A few cracks appeared on the glass forming the body, many chips of glass falling into the abyss and sinking into the viscous ink. In an attempt to fend off Syphus, Shadow Frisk reduced his attack again.

Being the only one able to attack Shadow Frisk was the biggest problem during the fight. While he was able to hit it a few more times, making the foe's glass body break more until they started to be smaller, he never thought he wouldn't be able to count with Sans and Papyrus' help. Sans' Blaster was helping a lot, limiting Shadow Frisk's movements, but he hadn't managed to hit the foe not even once. Shadow Frisk had kept Papyrus and Syphus' attack down despite having to endure being hit a few times by Syphus' Personas. It seemed more and more that this was more a battle of endurance than of strength. Who would fall apart first? Their defenses or Shadow Frisk?

"Stay away! Go away!" Shadow Frisk would shout at him while decreasing Syphus' attack again. Syphus represented something ugly and unnatural Frisk wanted to avoid, and such feelings were getting overblown by the Shadow that had invaded them. There was no sense in trying to argue with them right now, as Syphus quickly found out. They'd simply refuse to listen, no matter what was said or who said it. Papyrus even tried to intervene, but Shadow Frisk ignored him, continuing their frantic dodging.

The Mayas had gotten closer and closer, passing through Papyrus' wall of bones. Several times they had gotten close enough to physically attack the group, forcing Papyrus to attack them in close range. Sans, having only 1 HP of health, made sure to stay behind Papyrus, attacking as much as he could.

Papyrus had endured several blows already, both from electrical attacks and from the Mayas' arms. Their chest plate was covered in scratches and holes, and a hit on one of his legs was making him have a bit of difficulty moving. The space between the Mayas and the group was getting smaller, and the number of Shadows kept increasing constantly.

"I DON'T MEAN TO ALARM ANYONE, BUT THIS IS GETTING TOUGH!"

"hurry up already!"

"I'm doing what I can!"

Shadow Frisk had increased their evasion again, but they had suffered considerable damage already, moving with less energy. They even were pretty close to Frisk's size, the glass having been chipped away from the formerly larger frame. Trying to seize the advantage, Syphus decided to take a risk. He had no idea if it was even possible, but it was worth trying. _Could this be done...?_ Getting Ouroboros close to him meant it was in the range of attack the Frivolous Mayas had. Several electric spells crossed the air, aiming to hit Ouroboros and achieving it a couple times. Syphus groaned in pain, cringing, feeling the electric current as if he had been hit, but forced himself to keep bringing Ouroboros closer. They were running out of time, he had no time to let something like the Mayas stop him from trying one last thing!

Personas were solid enough to be hit. They never showed damage, merely getting swatted away, and were otherwise solid to be touched. That was why Syphus took the kind of stupid decision to use Ouroboros as a way to get closer to Shadow Frisk. It was the only Persona bulky and large enough to be able to hold him. Grasping the halberd in one hand and immensely grateful it was rather light thanks to it being collapsible, Syphus grasped the empty-looking yet startlingly solid robe, standing on the edge of the triquetra that was the Persona's base. "what's he doing?" Sans muttered, stopping the third Blaster from firing any further.

"Don't stop, Sans!" _I'll need that kid to stand still!_ Sans acknowledged the order, restarting the beam and trying to use it to force Shadow Frisk to move closer to Syphus.

"SANS, WATCH OUT!" Papyrus pulled from Sans just in time for him to dodge a stray bolt of thunder. They were all running out of time. Knowing that the possibility the skeletons would be swarmed by the Mayas and killed was more likely by the second, Syphus hurried up, trying not to look at the yawning void right underneath him.

Shadow Frisk was rather weakened, floating with their head hanging down, sluggishly moving and dodging Ouroboros' magic attacks with difficulty. They were aware Syphus was approaching, halberd ready, but didn't make much effort to get away, mostly because the Blaster Sans had in their direction was forcing them to move towards Syphus.

"HURRY UP!" a Maya tried to grab Papyrus' arm, he managed to get it away with a bone, but more and more started swatting at him, trying to hit him. Syphus didn't even look behind, he let go of Ouroboros' robe, standing precariously on the edge of the triquetra, and swung the halberd, holding it from the bottom of the pole and moving it with great difficulty. He barely got to swing it without losing his balance and plummeting down the hole in the cave. The blade collided against Shadow Frisk' glass body, a grating noise echoing in the cavern from the contact of glass against metal.

Shadow Frisk let out a pained cry, but Syphus didn't give enough time for them to move away. He positioned their feet further ahead and mustered his strength to swing the halberd back in the opposite direction, hitting Shadow Frisk with the rather dull spikes on the back of the pole, a sound like glass breaking emanating from the body. The cracks extended more, the glass seemed to be about to break in a thousand pieces. _There, I'm close!_ Syphus raised the halberd over his head, like an executioner, and swung the halberd blade with all his strength right on Shadow Frisk's iron face.

Shadow Frisk levitated downwards, holding their face with their hands and spinning uncontrollably. Unable to be chipped away any further, the last layer of glass started falling apart, revealing fabric underneath. "Frisk!" Syphus, elated, followed them, grasping the halberd with strength as if he had a baseball bat, and got ready for the final strike "Sans! Be ready!"

Sans made the Blaster vanish and nodded, trusting Papyrus would be able to keep the Mayas' attacks at bay for a moment. Without even waiting for a reply, Syphus swung the halberd for the last time, impacting Shadow Frisk with the flat part of the halberd blade. The foe was launched towards the rock wall, unable to deter what was going to happen, and crashed against the rocks with a resounding sound.

The glass body completely shattered, the metal mask snapped off Frisk's face. The child seemed to be conscious, as soon as they were free from the glass, metal and SAVE point that had formed their Shadow they screamed. In a moment they felt a familiar tingling in their chest, one they knew very well by now.

"gotcha!" Sans, having turned Frisk's SOUL blue and stopped their fall, held them away and out of reach of the Mayas. None of the Shadows paid attention to them, trying to finish their onslaught on the skeletons.

"HELP! I GOT CAUGHT!" Several Mayas grabbed Papyrus' arms, pulling from them and trying to get him to fall down.

"see you outside, 'phus" Sans said before vanishing with Papyrus and Frisk, the Mayas all piling up, their targets long vanished.

"Sans?!" Frisk seemed to be safe now, the main objective had been achieved. Trying to get away before the swarm of Mayas noticed Syphus was still there, Syphus moved Ouroboros and himself to the entrance of the cave, jumping off the triquetra and dispelling the Persona before running outside.

The movements didn't go unnoticed. Syphus had barely ran a few feet when the Mayas turned around. A few dozen minor Shadows pursued him, dragging their oily bodies towards the outside, where Sans, Papyrus and Frisk were waiting. Frisk was sobbing, clinging to Papyrus. "IT'S OKAY, FRIEND. YOU'RE OKAY"

"Get ready!" Syphus shouted when he exited the cave, turning around when he reached them. Papyrus looked around awkwardly.

"come here, buddy" Sans took the sobbing child off Papyrus and led them aside, away from any Shadow that may come.

"This is it, our last stand. Do you need healing?" Syphus asked and smashed the halberd over the first Maya that arrived. Papyrus claimed to not to need healing – "THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS FULL OF ENERGY AND HEALTH!" – but Syphus used a Persona to heal him nonetheless, just in case. The Mayas kept coming out of the cave, one after another, and since Syphus was once again running out of energy to keep any Persona attacking, he restricted himself to using the halberd. Papyrus was doing most of the job, able to fight several Mayas at once without hitting Syphus, while Sans kept Frisk away. The child had stopped crying and was watching Syphus and Papyrus fight, trying to come to terms with the timeline's strange deviations.

Since Shadow Frisk was defeated, no new Mayas emerged after any got killed. Slowly, the number of Mayas was reduced without any of them managing to hit Papyrus or Syphus, other Mayas running away once it was clear they were outnumbered. The clear signs their efforts were being successful lifted Papyrus and Syphus' spirits, hitting the foes with more energy, until it was all done and the ground was littered with small metallic spheres dropped by the Mayas. "...ARE WE...DONE...?" Papyrus was finally showing signs of fatigue after fighting constantly during quite a while, having to rest his hands on his knees and somehow gasping for breath.

"Yes! We're done. We can finally—" no, there was something else coming, dragging itself slowly and pitifully. The tinkling of glass and metal sounded from deep inside the cave before the source of the sound was visible. Pieces of glass and half of the iron mask was slowly dragging itself towards the group, the SAVE point was trailing just behind. The foe didn't even have the strength to attack or use any kind of command. A low moan sounded, undoubtedly from Shadow Frisk, unintelligible and garbled.

"What is that...?" Frisk had approached behind them, looking at what remained of their Shadow self. No one replied to them, unsure of really what to say. Frisk didn't try to approach their Shadow self, looking from behind Papyrus.

"WHAT SHOULD WE DO?"

"...there's nothing to be done other than...finishing it" It may have tried to smother them all with Mayas, but there was something very pitiful in seeing the remains of Shadow Frisk crawling like that. He didn't really want to approach and callously split open the remains, even if it seemed that was a necessary thing to do.

"I'LL DO IT" Papyrus said solemnly, extending a hand towards the rests of Shadow Frisk. He sighed contritely, a single bone extending from the ground, striking the SAVE point. The SAVE point froze, shuddering.

"...I don't...understand...anythiiiiing" Shadow Frisk's distorted voice sounded before the SAVE point disappeared in the usual poof of black smoke and particles. The four looked at the now inanimate pieces of glass and metal, not saying anything. The adrenaline of fighting Frisk's Shadow Self was gone, replaced with a feeling of melancholy.

"How is Frisk?" Syphus asked after a while, putting away the halberd.

"they're fine. shaken up but who wouldn't be after what happened"

"So they're not hurt after everything I did?"

"nope. whatever that thing was it kept frisk protected" Sans gently pushed Frisk towards Syphus and Papyrus before going to pick up the glass.

 _Good. That's a relief!_ Syphus gave a small smile. "Frisk, we're going to return to the Underground, alright?" Frisk nodded, looking to the ground. Once Sans and Papyrus had their hands on Frisk's shoulders, ready to return, Syphus crouched and pressed on the lighted-up firefly brooch that was still attached to Frisk's sweater, turning it off. The environment around them turned black, no one could see anything. It was done. The first expedition was over.

-ooooo-

The second day of their stay in the Underground was getting to its end. Syphus stared at the ceiling, resting his hands on his chest and trying to keep his mind blank for now. What a day...

Syphus had been the last to wake up. Frisk was already sitting on Papyrus' car bed, holding a bowl of Papyrus' sludge-like soup. Sans was nowhere to be seen, and Papyrus apparently was bringing another bowl of soup, presumably for Syphus. Syphus had asked Frisk again if they were okay. The child hadn't replied to that, staring into the soup without any expression.

Papyrus had returned shortly after that, bringing the soup for Syphus. "HERE YOU GO, SYPHUS! A BOWL OF SOUP AND A GOOD DEAL OF CARE WILL HAVE YOU AS GOOD AS NEW IN NO TIME!"

"...a good deal of care?"

"I HAVE PREPARED THE COUCH DOWNSTAIRS FOR YOU TO SPEND THE NIGHT HERE"

After a pause Syphus sighed with relief and plopped on the floor, smiling. "You're too good, Papyrus. Thank you"

"I'LL WATCH OVER FRISK TONIGHT"

"Right, I'll leave it up to you" Syphus raised his head "Where's Sans?"

"I DON'T KNOW. GRILLBY'S? I TOLD HIM HE SHOULD TAKE ONE OF HIS LONG NAPS, BUT _NOW_ THAT HE ACTUALLY SHOULD HE ISN'T DOING IT!"

Papyrus settled aside Frisk, laying a blanket on the floor and claiming that was where he was going to sleep, so Syphus stood up from the floor and descended to the ground floor of the house. Just like Papyrus had said, the couch had been prepared. There was a blanket over it and that was it. _Perfect._ Syphus got under the blanket, intending to quickly fall asleep from the fatigue of the day, but he didn't. There were way too many things in his head.

Apparently, the whole Persona thing's purpose had been revealed now, and it had been more difficult than he thought it'd be. He had no idea how many times Sans and Papyrus had saved his life during the exploration, and he was grateful for that, but now what? Papyrus seemed to be content with not being told all the details regarding Personas and Shadows, as well as that strange world, but Sans surely had a few questions about that. How to answer them, how much could Syphus tell? And what should he do in the future? It was very likely other monsters or humans would go through the same calamity Frisk had gone through, there was no way it'd be a one-time thing. The thought of bringing Papyrus and Sans with him didn't seem like a good idea, mostly because of their lack of Personas. _How can other people obtain one?_ The skeletons weren't weak at all, but without Personas he wasn't sure how long they'd last.

Talking to Alphonse about the matter was a good idea, though. If there was anyone who could tell him more, it'd be them. It'd also be a chance to find out what exactly were the Velvet Room's services and tie up those loose ends. Overall, Syphus felt like he was starting to be in control of the situation, but there was a lot of work to do.

"SYPHUS?" Syphus turned his head around. Papyrus was peeking from his bedroom "FRISK WANTS TO TALK WITH YOU" _Guess I should see what they want._ Although he would have preferred to try to sleep, Syphus stood up and went to Papyrus' room.

Frisk seemed to be feeling better than just a couple hours before. The bowl of sludge was still untouched, left beside Papyrus' action figures, but Frisk seemed to be in a cheerful mood, several of Papyrus' favorite books near them. When Syphus entered they waved at him, truly glad to see him. "I SHALL STEP OUT NOW!" Papyrus announced, doing exactly what he said. Once Papyrus was gone, Frisk exhaled, getting themselves comfortable.

"...I didn't think you were a human too" they said, not getting a reply. _What am I supposed to say?_ "Are you hurt?"

"Don't worry about me. You're the one who went through some tough things"

"But I remember I attacked you guys with..." Frisk made a face of confusion, looking at a side "...I don't know what I attacked you with. What were those things?"

"You remember?" That was unexpected! Syphus had taken for granted that the moment Shadow Frisk overcame Frisk, the child wasn't aware of what was going on. The thought that Frisk felt every blow and remembered almost successfully killing Sans and Papyrus was very nasty, he really hoped he was mistaken about that. "Did I hurt you?"

Frisk rubbed his forehead, where he had been hit by the halberd. There was no bruise or wound. "I...I felt you hitting me with that long axe thing, but it didn't hurt" Okay, that wasn't as bad as it could have been. "It was weird...I don't know how to talk about the feelings I had during that fight"

"Do you really think not being able to SAVE will mean you'll die?"

"...I'm scared I'll die. If I can't return, then does that mean everyone will have to stay down here?" Frisk looked at Syphus. The piece intertwined his hands, leaning his chin on his fingers.

"I understand you're scared, but it doesn't mean monsterkind will have to stay down here...or that you'll die. Don't lose hope, okay?"

Frisk raised their head with a determined stare. "I don't plan to stop. Syphus, I want to keep going. I want to meet my friends and help, I want to find a way to break the Barrier" there was another pause. This was significantly more awkward than when they met in the inn the day before, but the slight animosity and lack of trust he had felt in Frisk that time was gone. _That's progress, I suppose._

"...why do you disguise yourself as a monster?" Frisk asked, looked at him with curiosity.

"I don't know how many monsters know how humans look like, but I didn't want to risk being attacked. There's not a single human SOUL captured yet, you know"

"There isn't?"

"Ours would be the first ones they'd obtain. Come on, Frisk, you know what happened to you with the Royal Guard when they saw you. They must have been more savage because you'd be the first step to achieve freedom"

Frisk frowned. The fact they were the only human to have fallen into the Underground besides Chara and Syphus was a deviation much bigger than any they had ever seen. How would that affect their friends? Would Undyne be more bloodthirsty, making it harder to befriend her? Would Alphys change in any way? Would Asgore be much less guilty about trying to kill them, not having six children's SOULs already?

...was Flowey not showing up because Frisk was of no worth to them, being only one single SOUL?

Now that Frisk thought about it, would this drastic change explain why Papyrus wasn't trying to hunt humans, or why he didn't have anymore his ambitions of joining the Royal Guard? And they hadn't seen Toriel at all yet, where was she?

Syphus extended his hand, conciliatory "I know I offered this to you a couple times already, so let me offer one last time: I could go with you. I'd protect you from any monsters that could attack you, and—"

"No. I need to go alone" that was the only thing Frisk had clear. While it was true being with Syphus would mean being generally safer, they thought having him around would make it much harder to befriend other monsters, whether it was because Syphus would shoo them away or because their friends wouldn't react the same way than if they were alone. They wouldn't be _truly alone_ – despite everything they hoped Sans would stick around, watching over them from a distance – but they thought it'd be better than letting Syphus accompany them.

"Fine, I won't insist anymore" Syphus said, meaning that. _I'll have to trust Frisk will be able to take care of themselves_. They thought unhappily "I don't know if wanting to go alone despite having been attacked by someone earlier is brave or stupid"

Frisk shrugged and managed to give a smile. "I'll be okay. By the way...thanks for rescuing me from that place. I don't know where I was, but I'm glad Sans, Papyrus and you found me"

 **Papyrus, Sans and you managed to rescue Frisk**

 **The Human Child Social Link has reached Rank 4!**

 **Your power to create Personas of the Fool Arcana has grown!**

Syphus opened the door of the bedroom. "Frisk, since you won't stop until you get to Asgore, the only thing I ask is that you remember you're not in a time trial here. You don't have to get there as soon as possible, or tomorrow, or in two days. Take your time, okay?" Frisk nodded. Once Syphus left the room, Frisk reclined on the pillow, closing their eyes. Until now they hadn't been alone, Papyrus staying nearby with his vow to take care of them. Although a couple times they felt tempted to ask him to leave them alone for a moment, they hadn't done it, glad to know Papyrus was concerned about them. Now they had the chance to talk with Chara about what happened, and they wanted to take advantage of it.

"...Chara?"

 _"_ _I have no idea what happened_ "

"What do you remember?"

" _I don't know. I woke up at the same time than you"_ Chara said. From their point of view, they just blacked out like Frisk, but unlike them they saw nothing at all. Although they were rather confused, they hadn't tried to talk to Frisk until now, trying to understand the situation from what everyone else said. Everyone may as well have talked about quantum physics, for as much Chara understood.

Frisk told Chara everything they remembered about their Shadow. They didn't remember much from before Syphus and the skeletons had arrived, all they remembered was walking over the surface of Mt. Ebott, finding it completely empty, not even having Chara to talk with. Soon they had arrived to the cave, reaching the hole on the ground, and a SAVE point near it. They had taken the SAVE point in their hands. From there their memories were rather muddled up to the point Papyrus, Sans and Syphus arrived. "I'm not sure what happened. I know there was something inside me that fought my friends, but I don't what it was" Frisk grasped the blanket tighter "It knew what I was feeling..." It was hard to talk about it. Chara knew what Frisk's feelings regarding the timeline repeating – and their role in breaking monsterkind out of the mountain over and over – so despite their curiosity they didn't press any further about that matter. "I don't even know how I got knocked out. I remember I was walking through Waterfall, and then..." Frisk touched the back of their neck, not reaching the spot where the bruise was "...someone grabbed me from my back. They were too strong! They dragged me into that cave, they let me go...and something hit me on the back before I could turn around or run away. Do you remember anything, Chara?"

 _"_ _I'm in the same body than you. If you know nothing, how do you expect me to know?"_ Chara said _"Want to know what I think? I think that Syphus guy did it"_

"Him? But you got him to go away with the Echo Flowers"

 _"_ _He could have returned later"_

"Papyrus said Syphus came out of Waterfall right after Sans brought me here. I don't think he could have run from so deep in Waterfall all the way to Snowdin"

That seemed to have silenced Chara for a second. _"I don't trust that guy. Frisk, humans can't be trusted. We both know that"_

"So you don't trust me? I'm human"

If Frisk's rebuttal regarding Syphus possibly having attacked them got them to hesitate, that line truly deterred Chara. It took a while before they replied, and when they did, they sounded almost contrite. _"I never said I don't trust you"_

"You're human too and I trust you" Frisk added. It was times like this that Chara was glad they didn't have a face Frisk could see.

 _"_ _Stop that! You're doing it on purpose!"_

"I trust you, and I trust Syphus too"

 _"_ _F-Fine. But if not him then who? Sans?"_

"Sans wouldn't do that!" Frisk replied with much more emphasis than when they defended Syphus. Chara had been about to reply when Papyrus peeked inside. "HOW DID IT GO, FRISK?"

The child waved vaguely. "We talked..." The vague reply seemed to be enough for Papyrus, who beamed with cheerfulness.

"YOU SHOULD DRINK YOUR SOUP! IT'LL MAKE YOU FEEL LIKE NEW"

Frisk took the bowl of sludge, moving it around with the spoon. "I didn't know you knew how to make soup"

"MASTER CHEF PAPYRUS ISN'T SOME KIND OF ONE-TRICK PONY! I KNOW HOW TO MAKE PASTA. I KNOW HOW TO MAKE SOUP. I KNOW HOW TO MAKE PASTA WITHIN SOUP" he replied, settling onto his makeshift bed right beside the car bed. Frisk prepared to sleep, not really sure what to do the next day. They felt okay now, at least physically, but losing their SAVE skills was forcing them to take it all much slower than they'd like to. Syphus' insistence made them reconsider going immediately towards Undyne, too. Maybe they could afford to be in Snowdin for a while, hang out with Sans and Papyrus...

Wait. Now that they thought about it, they accused Syphus of having that power, didn't they? Was that true? They wouldn't be surprised, but then why hadn't Syphus told them that yet? Was it something they needed to hide?

A bit uneasy, Frisk got comfy and fell asleep, trying not to overthink anything about Syphus' intentions and plans.

-ooooo-

The surface of Mt. Ebott was in complete calm. It was a cold night, there was no one on the mountain. Being the real Mt. Ebott, there were no Shadow, and everything had a solid base of rock.

Inside the cave with the hole Frisk always fell through, something bubbled among the tree roots and rocks. Slowly, a puddle of ink formed, reaching a meter of diameter. It didn't get any larger, but it also didn't stop bubbling, as if something nasty and dangerous was right under the surface of the puddle.

It was still there the next day.

 **CHECK AVERTED**

 **CHECK IN FOUR MOVES**

* * *

 **SOCIAL LINKS:**

 **Fool - Frisk - RANK 4**

 **Magician - ? - RANK 0**

 **Priestess - ? - RANK 0**

 **Empress - Toriel - RANK 2**

 **Emperor - Cohen - RANK 1**

 **Hierophant - ? - RANK 0**

 **Lovers - ? - RANK 0**

 **Chariot - Ananas - RANK 2**

 **Justice - ? - RANK 0**

 **Hermit - ? - RANK 0**

 **Fortune - ? - RANK 0**

 **Strength - ? - RANK 0**

 **Hanged Man - ? - RANK 0**

 **Death - Cornio - RANK 1**

 **Temperance - ? - RANK 0**

 **Devil - ? - RANK 0**

 **Tower - ? - RANK 0**

 **Star - Lucia - RANK 1**

 **Moon - ? - RANK 0**

 **Sun - Papyrus - RANK 1**

 **Judgment - ? - RANK 0**

 **Aeon - Syphus - RANK 1**

 **Jester - Alphonse - RANK 1**


	11. Take a Moment to Plan Ahead

"Hello hello, dear Alphonse"

Alphonse raised their sight from their book about Personas, not showing any surprise at seeing Lucia in the Velvet Room. Igor, sitting in his usual spot, bowed slightly. "It's not common to see a former guest return to the Velvet Room"

"She's a former guest?" Alphonse inquired to Igor, but all he did as a reply was gesture towards Lucia. The witch touched the blindfold over her eyes, adjusting it.

"It's a long story. Is it okay if I steal your assistant for a while, Mr. Igor?" She sounded strangely deferential when talking to Igor, something Alphonse, although they didn't know her very well, knew was unusual. Igor nodded, so Alphonse stood up and walked to Lucia. The witch led Alphonse to the couch near the entrance of the Velvet Room and sat with a sigh, leaning her head on the soft edge of the back of the couch. "Has Sisyphus or his piece returned here yet?"

"Not yet. My master says our guest is starting to realize the scope of the Wild Card ability, but I don't know yet what that means" There was a short pause while Alphonse sat too, closing and opening their fists while thinking what to say "How's the game going?"

"Not good. Sisyphus isn't very good at playing this kind of games. I thought I had prepared him well, but..." Lucia shook her hands, exasperated "He's so frustrating to work with!"

"What about the Social Links?"

"Oh, that? Syphus listens to them, I'll give him credit for that. I don't know yet if he will do the right thing and point them in the right direction without meddling too much" she scratched the bridge of her nose "They're interested on Frisk. It's no surprise...I think he still feels guilty about that"

"Is he treating them well?" Alphonse's tone changed, gaining an undertone of anxiety that didn't go unnoticed to Lucia. She grinned deviously, for some reason.

"He's a bit overzealous about protecting them, but other than that he's doing fine. The child has just started trusting him" Alphonse seemed like a weight had been raised off their shoulders, so Lucia continued "He decided to let Frisk do their thing. I thought that'd make you happy" Lucia sat straighter "Okay, enough small talk. Want to play a game?"

"A game?" Alphonse tilted their head "You should go back to your house before the game continues"

"Oh, don't worry about that. We're on another break right now. Look, I even brought a diagram" The space between Lucia's hands shone for a moment before a large sheet of paper appeared "How about you try to solve the conundrum of the first Victim?" Refusing to play along Lucia's game was only going to make her stay around for longer, so Alphonse nodded, hesitant. Smiling, Lucia showed Alphonse the diagram.

It was a rather simple and childish diagram, showing no more than a deformed circle and a short rectangle on the south area that seemed to represent a corridor, while a white blob on a small plateau seemed to show the white bedsheet and the rocks underneath it. Small stickers showed things like the second Echo Flower found, Sans, and the dummy. Alphonse refrained on commenting on how it looked. "This is the room Frisk was found in. The person who found them was Sans. Allow me to tell you the basic details:

 **There's only one entry and exit**

 **Only up to three people ever entered this alcove.** It doesn't mean three people entered, of course I won't say anything about that.

 **There's no place in this alcove anyone could hide in.**

Alphonse stared at the diagram. "Really? No place at all?"

"Nope! It's all in the open. Sans could have looked around and he'd have seen no one. In fact: **Sans saw no one except Frisk** , and **Sans only saw Frisk once they were unconscious and in middle of the alcove** " That made things a bit more complicated. When Alphonse asked for more details of what happened, Lucia told everything Sans had seen.

"There was a blue blanket, a white bedsheet, and a dummy with branches stuck in it...where did the branches come from?"

"That's irrelevant"

"Are you sure there was nothing else in the alcove?"

"Not exactly. **Besides those objects, there was also a pile of rocks**. Now that's all. How about it? Got an answer yet?" Lucia leaned her chin on her closed fist. Alphonse could sense the amusement in her eyes despite the blindfold, so they tried to ignore it and observed the diagram, tracing Sans' movements with a finger.

"...Sans saw nothing strange, right?"

"That's right!"

Alphonse thought for a moment before they suddenly gasped, grinning. "How dark was it in that place?" She didn't seem very amused by the smirk, though.

 **"** **Sans would have seen anyone no matter how dark it was"**

"But was it dark?"

"It was...there was little light" it was moments like these Lucia was glad she always had a blindfold. Alphonse wouldn't be able to see her eyes nervously looking away.

"I got it!" Alphonse started telling the solution they had thought, weaving together every element Lucia had mentioned and moving their finger on the diagram. The more they talked, the surer they felt about their reasoning, while Lucia said nothing and looked at them inexpressively. Once Alphonse was done, the witch stayed silent until she took the diagram, meticulously folding it seven, eight, nine times before making it disappear in the air with magic.

"I honestly thought you'd have more trouble than this. Way too easy, right? That's what I thought"

"You made this puzzle?"

"Me? No! If it had been me it'd be much more complicated. No, Cornio made it. It reeks of inexperience, doesn't it? If anyone else had made it, I'd have sneered at them until they apologized for wasting my time with such trivialities" Lucia said "But that's okay. We don't intend to stump each other this time.

In _this_ game, the reason why these puzzles are necessary is to stump everyone _inside_ the game board. It may be simple for us, watching from above, but for those who see it happen or hear about it, it's supposed to be unsolvable. Do you understand?"

"I think I do" They didn't understand at all.

"Hell, _who is the attacker_ isn't even an important matter. If Sisyphus or anyone focuses on the who, they'll be mightily disappointed" Lucia stood up, smoothing over her dress. "I don't want to continue sitting around playing the role of assistant, so I'll meddle a bit, make things jolly!" she tilted her head "You don't mind hosting W.D. Gaster in this room for a while, do you?"

-ooooo-

 _I should have checked the couch for gold before sleeping_. His back ached a lot. Syphus rubbed his sides, grimacing, and leaned against the wall, facing the skeleton brothers.

He had just finished explaining some details regarding the expedition into Frisk's SOUL, avoiding everything that was related to Syphus' true role as a piece for witches to control. Papyrus had taken it rather well, nodding and saying 'I SEE!', while Sans listened in silence. Once Syphus was finished, Papyrus made an expression of enlightenment, looking almost comical.

"I'M NOT SURE I COMPLETELY UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING YOU SAID, BUT I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL HELP YOU IN ANY WAY I CAN!"

"there's a flaw in your tale, 'phus" Sans languidly said "if we were inside that kid's SOUL how did i turn it blue?"

"Uh..." That was a good question, and something Syphus hadn't thought about. How was that place supposed to work? "I don't know"

"figures" Sans closed his eye sockets, resting on the armrest of the couch "so will that whole mess with the Shadows happen again or what?"

"It will. I don't know who could be the next one to fall down like Frisk did, but it'll happen again"

"I'LL PREPARE MYSELF FOR THE NEXT TIME!"

"good luck, bro. i ain't the hero type so i'm not going" Sans barely opened an eye socket "i have a lot of work to do. those hot dogs aren't going to sell themselves"

"NYEH HEH HEH! I'LL PRACTICE MY SPECIAL ATTACKS!"

"Papyrus, I'm grateful for your offer and you're cool, but I don't think it'd be a good idea for you to come with me again" Syphus said firmly. Papyrus immediately asked why, and Sans seemed more awake once Syphus said that. "I don't think you should go without a Persona"

"DO YOU MEAN ONE OF THE MAGIC ATTACKS YOU USED?"

"what are those personas, tho?"

"I can't explain what it is. They're like..." Syphus gestured vaguely with his hands "...like manifestations of a person's SOUL, using it to attack and defend. It's something like that"

"I COULD TRY TO OBTAIN ONE!"

"The problem here is that I don't know how you could get one. I could try to find out, but—"

"THEN IT'S SETTLED! THANKS, SYPHUS!" _...tell me I didn't accidentally make Papyrus join my team_. It wasn't that Syphus wouldn't be happy about Papyrus being a pal and going with him next time this mess happened again, it was more like Syphus didn't want to promise something he may not even be able to fulfill. Who knew what Papyrus would have to do to obtain a Persona? It could be dangerous, or traumatic, or anything else. Papyrus had more than enough enthusiasm and fortitude to endure anything, but that didn't mean Syphus was willing to let it happen without protesting.

 **Papyrus has declared his intention to join you on your task.**

 **The** **Papyrus** **Social Link has reached Rank 2!**

 **Your power to create Personas of the** **Sun Arcana** **has grown!**

While Papyrus excitedly talked about being of help and Syphus tried to get him to listen for a second, Sans took out a large bag, filled to the brim with objects. "'phus, take this" he said, passing the bag without effort

"What's this?" Syphus took the bag and immediately fell to the floor with it. _Damn it, what's this filled with?!_ Syphus looked inside, finding stones and other materials. "Did you give me a bag of leather, Sans?"

"kinda" Sans shrugged "this stuff came from the Shadows when they died. see if it's of use to you"

"Why would any of this be of use to me?" Syphus stuck his hand inside the bag, his hand covered with powder that felt like talc "I guess I could try throwing this at a Shadow's eyes but—"

"do whatever you want, bud" Syphus opened the bag further, taking out everything. A large board of armor he recognized from the Musha, glass and iron from Shadow Frisk, pieces of hide and long strings, and more of that talc covering everything.

"Thanks, Sans...I guess" He didn't really see any use to these objects, but he wasn't going to protest. There was a smaller bag inside, filled with other items. "What's this?"

"eh, i experimented on some of the stuff i picked up and made all that. enjoy." A bit curious as to what things Sans could have made with those materials, Syphus looked inside the smaller bag. A coin, a mask that looked like the Shadows' masks, a piece of paper, a sphere of glass with something weird inside, even a small statue of Sans – depressingly represented as a lump with the word 'sans' engraved on it. Syphus turned the statue around in his hands, unimpressed.

"How did you even make all this stuff?"

"MY BROTHER HAS MANY MACHINES AND SCIENCE THINGAMAJIGS IN THE BASEMENT! HE MUST HAVE USED EVERYTHING HE HAD" Papyrus took the coin "HOW DID YOU MAKE THIS STUFF, SANS?"

"the usual, bro. it's science"

"THAT EXPLAINED ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!"

"it's no big deal, paps" Sans said without enthusiasm, not even looking at Papyrus. The taller skeleton put the coin back in the bag, a bit subdued.

"...FINE..."

Syphus frowned. "Are you okay, Papyrus?"

"OF COURSE I'M OKAY! DON'T WORRY ABOUT ME!" he quickly started sounding like usual, as if nothing had happened, while Sans seemingly didn't notice Papyrus' momentary dispirited reply. If he did notice he did absolutely nothing about it.

"Alright..." Syphus put everything back in the large bag and put it over his shoulder like a sack, accidentally hitting his back. _Agh! That's going to leave a mark_ "I'll get going. Papyrus, you should think very, _very_ carefully if you want to join me. It's not going to be fun times or anything as heroic as you think it'll be.

You'd be in mortal danger. You wouldn't be able to say anything to anyone. Other than those we help; no one would ever find out about what we do. Are you sure you want to be part of this?"

Papyrus didn't even hesitate. "I'M POSITIVELY SURE I WANT TO HELP! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL BE A VALUABLE TEAMMATE!" Syphus sighed at that response, managing to clip the firefly brooch to his clothes with his free hand, activating it. It had been nice to show himself as a human for a while, but the disguise was needed once again.

"Okay, but...please think about it"

"WAIT! SYPHUS, WAIT!" Papyrus crossed the place in two, three steps when Syphus opened the door to leave "DO YOU HAVE A PLACE TO LIVE?"

"what?" Sans straightened up a bit, his grin tensing a tad "paps, what're you thinking?"

"HE'S A—" Papyrus lowered his voice since the door was open "—HUMAN—" he raised his voice again "SO PERHAPS HE DOESN'T HAVE A PLACE TO STAY? HE COULD SLEEP ON OUR COUCH, SANS"

"bro, i'm not sure this is a good idea"

Syphus smiled, touched "Thanks, but I have a place already" The less said about the village, the better. It wasn't that Syphus didn't trust Papyrus – he trusted him implicitly to not to reveal things like that Syphus was human – it was more that Papyrus didn't need to know, in Syphus' opinion. After saying farewell again to the skeletons Syphus left in direction to Waterfall. Now that Syphus was gone, Papyrus focused his attention on Sans, who had 'conveniently' fallen asleep.

"SANS" There was no response "SANS!" Sans opened his eye sockets sleepily.

"hm?"

"...YOU DON'T LIKE HIM" Papyrus had already suspected that since the day they met Syphus for the first time, but now he thought it'd be good to confront Sans about the topic. Sans shrugged, looking aside.

"we know nothing about that guy. you know me, paps, i don't want to trust him before knowing him first"

"I SEE. THAT'S FINE, BUT I HAVE A GOOD FEELING ABOUT HIM, SANS! HE'S A GOOD PERSON" Sans winced for a moment. Papyrus' beliefs about everyone's inherent goodness could bring trouble, in his opinion.

"you're misinterpreting me, bro. if he stayed on the couch where'd you sleep?" Since Syphus was meddling with the timeline and it was likely the events wouldn't be the same than in any other timeline, Sans was considering asking Frisk to not to continue yet. The child would need a place to stay, wouldn't they? Papyrus was about to answer to that, but he realized what Sans was insinuating.

"OH! FRISK IS GOING TO STAY! YOU'RE RIGHT, I'LL NEED THE COUCH"

"see? told ya" Sans stuck his hands in his pockets "it's time for work. see you later, paps"

"YES! CONTINUE CULTIVATING A GOOD WORK ETHIC! WELL DONE, BROTHER" Sans nodded in acknowledgement and warped away, although he didn't go to one of the many sentry stations/hot dog stands he manned. Before that he wanted to check on the machine again, see if anything had changed. Sans expertly appeared right in front of the screen, not having to move not even an inch to be able to see the screen clearly.

There were no changes – changes he could distinguish, that is. The timeline itself was as erratic and unstable as before. Now that he knew a bit more what _may_ be causing such distortions he supposed the whole thing with the brooch, the Shadows and the Personas was what made everything so fragile, but he had no way to prove it. Scientists couldn't rely on hypothesis just like that, they needed a way to prove a hypothesis, and although Sans wasn't seriously dedicated to science anymore, he still liked to think he still had a bit of a scientist's mind. "what's your goal, syphus..." Sans murmured, approaching his work table.

On it there were still some of the crystals and stones he had gathered during the expedition to the mountain Syphus had said was Frisk's SOUL, - something he didn't believe yet – having spent most of the night analyzing the materials out of curiosity. All the materials looked normal, but Sans had found out everything had strange properties he wasn't sure how to interpret yet. In an attempt to find out more, Sans had used the materials to create simple objects, the same ones Syphus had taken with him. If there was anyone who could discover if those materials had some sort of strange effect it'd be Syphus, Sans supposed, and he believed that person would tell him any remarkable effects as soon as they happened.

There was something a tad concerning, though: the glass he had picked up from the remains of Shadow Frisk had showed a lot of magical potential, waiting to be tapped into. He hadn't dared to try to do anything with that glass, just in case he screwed up and caused something bad to happen. His "laboratory" didn't have any sophisticated machines or utensils beyond the one in the corner, he had no way to analyze the glass any further.

"i'll think of something" Sans decided, taking most of the stones and crystals on his work table to take it all with him to one of the sentry stations and keep fiddling with it. He felt there was something to find out about the materials, and he kind of wanted to see what he could do with all that. The scope of what was going on with the timeline – coupled with Syphus' sudden appearance and the strange blurb that had appeared when he CHECKed Syphus – seemed to be very large, and Sans, despite his general lack of enthusiasm, was starting to feel a small spark of curiosity, if only to know how screwed everyone was this time.

He just hoped Papyrus wouldn't suffer much when things almost inevitably take a turn for the worse.

-ooooo-

It'd be a lie to say he wasn't feeling nervous about going back to the Hidden Village after being away for more than 24 hours, but it wasn't like he couldn't not return there. Syphus exhaled, looking from side to side of the tunnel, and having checked there was no one nearby he deactivated the brooch and descended into the crevice and the path that'd lead to the village, still carrying the bag with the materials Sans had given him.

There was no way the humans didn't notice he hadn't been in the village for a while. He was actually expecting Cohen or someone else to be waiting for him to demand for an explanation, but what could Syphus say? _I should have started thinking about this on the way here._ Much to his relief, no one received him when he arrived to the outskirts of the village, so he started ascending towards the cabins. He could see a few wooden beams halfway buried into the ground in a spacious area to the side of the village, but other than that there hadn't been any changes during his absence.

"Alright, where the hell have you been?"

Syphus put the bag on the ground and slowly turned around, trying to look apologetic. "Uh, I can explain, Cohen, I—"

"Shut up with your excuses" Cohen scowled "Some of us were already thinking you had been killed and your SOUL taken. Do you have any idea how worried some of us were?"

"I'm sorry—"

"You better be" Cohen crossed his arms, having finished his tirade "Look, I'm not some kind of tyrant, but I'm the guardian of this village. It's my responsibility to watch over everyone. That includes you. I'm not going to lock you down somewhere nor treat you like a kid, so I want to know: do you think you can go outside without being caught by any monster?"

Syphus' hand unconsciously went to the firefly brooch without activating it. "Yeah, I think I can"

"Then fine, you can go outside the village, but I have one condition for you" Cohen stood up a bit straighter, his spine loudly creaking at the effort "I want you to return here during the nights. You must return and sleep here. All we want is to make sure you're okay, that we haven't lost one of our own. Understood?"

 _...I hope that won't be a problem_. Promising that would be easy, but he didn't know if he could guarantee it, but Syphus had the feeling saying 'no' wasn't an option. "Understood?" Cohen repeated, Syphus was taking too long to answer.

"Y-Yeah, I understand" Syphus turned his head to the beams "Will I sleep in your cabin all the time?"

"Only until your cottage is ready. Graham is working hard on that" Cohen extended his hand towards Syphus' bag of items "Gimme that, I'll carry it"

Syphus glanced at the bag for a moment, then looking at Cohen with doubt. "It's pretty heavy, I don't know if you—"

"I may be old, but I'm as strong as a Boss Monster" Cohen boasted, taking the bag without giving Syphus time to protest. He lifted it with ease! _Wow._.. "See? Now let's go. By the way, that was a lie. I'd have said 'as an ox', but what I said sounded more impressive" he admitted with a smirk. _Consider me impressed._

 **You sense genuine concern behind Cohen's assertion of authority.**

 **The** **Cohen** **Social Link has reached Rank 2!**

 **Your power to create Personas of the** **Emperor Arcana** **has grown!**

Syphus followed Cohen with his hands in his pocket, a bit cowed by Cohen's forceful attitude. It was nice to have a guardian who was willing to be tough yet reasonable, but Cohen wasn't exactly a young person, nor looked healthy beyond his strength. How much life left did he have?

Along the way they encountered Ananas, who was now wearing the same type of white robe and the shawl every human in the village except Syphus were wearing. Without the cowboy hat and clothes she liked so much, she looked older than she actually was. Ananas glared at Syphus when he passed by and didn't say a word. "She told me you promised to play with her but didn't come. Did you forget or what?"

"I...I was busy" It was true he had been busy, but in hindsight he should have taken the time to tell Ananas he'd be busy. He even stumbled upon her, it'd have taken only a few minutes!

"You should apologize to her. I haven't ever heard about she asking anyone to play with her. Having that promise broken from the one person she asked to must hurt"

"...if you're trying to guilt-trip me...then it's working" Syphus had a knot in his throat at thinking how much he disappointed Ananas, and promised himself he'd compensate her. Cohen shook his head sternly.

"I wasn't trying to guilt-trip you, but if you feel guilty then that's good! You know you did something wrong. Solve it when you can" he gritted his teeth "At least someone here has the balls to apologize for something"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that ungrateful four-eyes is being an asshole again! Blaming _me_ for anything that happens to him!" Cohen shook his free hand in exasperation "It's true I don't like him leaving the village almost every day, but that doesn't mean I'd go as far as to sabotage him!"

"Sabotage?"

"Someone stole his antlers" the old man said "He can't leave until he makes new ones, but it isn't like there are many branches in here. It'll be a while before he leaves again. I'm sorry for him, but he can't go blaming anyone he doesn't get along! What kind of person does that?"

"You and him don't get along?"

Cohen looked at him with a face that spelled he had no patience for stupidity right now. "Stop parroting everything I say. But yeah, we don't get along. We have been like that since he was a kid. If he has trouble with me watching over everyone then he should say it already!"

Syphus tried to be diplomatic. "You're doing a good job, there's no need to stir up trouble. I'm sure he knows that"

"I don't doubt I have been doing a good job, because if I don't do it who will? Celia is too old. Byssa is selfish and doesn't care about any of us. Graham is a nice kid, but he has no spine, he wouldn't be able to fight anyone, and you..." Cohen looked Syphus from head to toe twice "...I don't know you"

"What about Ananas? She's young, determined and cares a lot about everyone"

Cohen gravely looked at the ground. He didn't say anything for a moment, but then he shook his head emphatically. "No. Too young"

"Just because she's, what, eight years old doesn't mean she can't do a good job. She just needs training"

"You say that because it's not you who'd have to train her" Cohen grumbled "Look, I don't think she'd do a good job. It's up to me to be the guardian, end of story"

"Why? You must have a reason to reject her help, right?"

"Because I say so! Syphus, if I say I'm the only person in this village who is both qualified _and_ willing to guard everyone, then I'm the only person who can do it" Cohen glared at Syphus, but the piece refused to back down, stopping as well to try to look much more assertive than he actually was.

"And I say Ananas has what's needed. Are you not going to give her a chance to prove herself?"

"Not if I get a say!"

"Why? What does she not have that you do?!"

"I...I..." Cohen threw his hands up in exasperation "Stop it. I don't want to talk about it"

"Come on, Cohen, there must be something—"

"I told you I don't want to talk about this. Stop it or so help me you're going to carry this bag of yours the rest of the way" he said as if his cottage wasn't ten meters away, but the message was clear enough. Syphus closed his mouth tightly. _Cohen, you're as stubborn as always_. In his home timeline, Cohen had been a rather stubborn young man too, having pursued Asriel for quite a while and having been the last human obstacle in the way. His motivations and reasons to be stubborn were different now, but he was as headstrong as back then, if not more.

It was comforting to see that some people didn't change that much, despite growing in a tiny portion of the Underground.

Cohen left the bag to the side of the door and muttered something about going to his sentry spot, leaving Syphus alone without even saying goodbye. Syphus had been about to enter the door when he felt observed. Slowly, he turned around and found Ananas a few feet away.

"...you heard all that, didn't you?" Syphus inquired softly. Ananas' hands moved as if she was going to pull down a hat to cover her face, but when she realized she had none, instead she ran away. "Hey, wait! Annie!" she didn't come back. Syphus frowned but entered the cottage, deciding to talk to her later. He still had to go to the Velvet Room, after all.

-ooooo-

Alphys looked again at the recording of the cameras, unsure of how to feel. That was a human! A real, true human! Here in the Underground! And...they looked nothing like the humans from her animes. She knew there was no way they'd look like the anime characters, but that didn't stop her from harboring a faint hope they would. Said hope got dashed once she saw them for the first time.

There were no big eyes, nor hairstyles that were both striking and stylish. The human she was seeing was just a child, homely and with a blue and pink sweater. Still, what mattered wasn't the human's appearance, what mattered is that there was a human in the Underground! So now what? What should she do?

The recording of the cameras showed the human had gone to Waterfall but later they had appeared in Snowdin. Sans had been interacting with the human, that explained how they got all the way to that town. "I still have t-time!" She had no idea what the human wanted to do, but surely they'd want to leave the Underground, and for that they'd need to go to New Home...and also kill Asgore. That was something she definitely wanted to stop. How to discourage them, though? How to convince them to stop trying to leave a place that'd surely want them dead?

The only thing Alphys had clear right now was that telling Undyne may...it may not be the best idea. Her claws shook, the thought of having to hide something from Undyne made her feel horrible. "I-I can't...I shouldn't hide anything from her...she'd find out sooner or later..." but she knew very well that if Undyne found out about the human she'd immediately try to find them and take their SOUL. The human hadn't even done anything wrong! The video feed was proof. All the interactions, the FIGHTs ending without anyone dying, all that was proof.

No, Alphys was sure she had to keep it hidden from Undyne no matter how much she hated to do that. She also couldn't just sit back and do nothing. So instead... "Wait! I got it!" Alphys started pacing around frantically, many ideas forming in her head. Yeah, that may work! It was all matter of convincing the human to stay in the Underground, and for that, the human would need a friend, someone they could trust. How to get the human to trust her? Wait, wait, what if-? Yeah! Maybe that'd work!

She'd need to prepare a few things, polish up all the plans...it shouldn't be too difficult. Quickly thinking of scenarios and dramatic things to say, she went to her work table on this part of her laboratory over the surface of Hotland, looking for what she'd need. Alphys had been about to take a cellphone and start working on it when she remembered something she had to do: put back the camera she repaired. It was right there to the side, cleaned and prepared to be connected back to the network. "I'll have to ask Undyne to help me with that..." she mumbled, taking her phone. After a few minutes of fretting and putting away the phone – several times, in fact – she finally was ready to make a few calls.

* * *

 **SOCIAL LINKS:**

 **Fool - Frisk - RANK 4**

 **Magician - ? - RANK 0**

 **Priestess - ? - RANK 0**

 **Empress - Toriel - RANK 2**

 **Emperor - Cohen - RANK 2**

 **Hierophant - ? - RANK 0**

 **Lovers - ? - RANK 0**

 **Chariot - Ananas - RANK 2**

 **Justice - ? - RANK 0**

 **Hermit - ? - RANK 0**

 **Fortune - ? - RANK 0**

 **Strength - ? - RANK 0**

 **Hanged Man - ? - RANK 0**

 **Death - Cornio - RANK 1**

 **Temperance - ? - RANK 0**

 **Devil - ? - RANK 0**

 **Tower - ? - RANK 0**

 **Star - Lucia - RANK 1**

 **Moon - ? - RANK 0**

 **Sun - Papyrus - RANK 2**

 **Judgment - ? - RANK 0**

 **Aeon - Syphus - RANK 1**

 **Jester - Alphonse - RANK 1**


	12. A Way to Shatter the Barrier

Once Syphus left the bag of Shadow remains in Cohen's cottage and examined the halberd to make sure the pole wasn't going to break in two anytime soon – it was fine, but the blade looked duller than before, to the point it was more like a blunt weapon than a blade – he left the village, looking for the door to the Velvet Room. Thankfull, it wasn't too far away from the Hidden Village, but it was in a path that seemed to be decently transited. A few monsters passed by, not really paying attention to Syphus, but he still felt a bit nervous, thinking someone could see him disappear in midair when entering through that door. Once he was sure no one would see him, he opened the door and entered, the brooch losing its effects immediately.

Going from the tepidness of Waterfall to the pleasantly cool atmosphere of the Velvet Room was almost jarring. Igor was there, exactly like the last time Syphus had seen him, while Alphonse smiled welcomingly from the armchair. "Welcome to the Velvet Room" Igor said, beckoning Syphus to sit on the seat on the other side of the table. Syphus obeyed, a bit excited to see what could be done with all the Personas he had gathered. "It seems you have made the first few steps in your journey" Igor pointed with his hands at the cogs lining the walls. Several cogs that weren't moving before were fully active now.

"Mind telling me what I did?" Maybe if he could find out what he did, he could repeat that action as many times as needed and get done with it more effectively!

"That's a question you'll have to answer by yourself" Igor's grin seemed to widen, Syphus blinked a few times "Now, I shall introduce you to the main service of the Velvet Room: fusing Personas"

The explanation was long and convoluted. At the end Syphus could barely remember all the details about the exceptions, the different arcanas, how helpful it'd be to register Personas, the inheriting conditions of the magic skills Personas could give when fusing...everything. Although he did pay attention, at some point Igor's words turned rather nebulous and confusing. "Did you understand?" Igor asked at the end every time he finished a section, Syphus nodding, trying not to make his confusion obvious. Once Igor explained the last part and Syphus confirmed he understood, the master of the Velvet Room bowed slightly "Splendid. Now, would you like to make use of our services?"

"Yeah. So, first I should register the Personas I have..."

"My assistant shall help you with that. Alphonse?"

"Yes" Alphonse opened their book and got closer to the table, taking a pen "Let's start working"

It seemed that the Velvet Room services were mostly told to Alphonse, while Igor performed the fusions and summoning of the Personas. Alphonse helped with the registration, patiently explaining every detail of the Personas Syphus had. Stats, magic skills, everything was crammed in Syphus' head to the point he wasn't sure what data belonged to what. It didn't help that most of what Alphonse said reminded him he had just started the journey. Literally all the Personas he had gathered so far belonged to arcanas he hadn't even touched yet in any of the Social Links. Lovers. Hierophant. Justice. Temperance. Syphus couldn't help but wonder who in the Underground represented such arcanas. "How about the ones I'm developing already? Is there any Persona I could fuse included among them?"

Alphonse drummed their fingers on the cover of their book. "Um, not really...right now there are eleven Personas you could fuse and only one is from any of those arcanas: Agathion, from the Chariot arcana. It'd receive power from your Social Link, but I don't recommend it. It'd still be too weak"

"Then what should I do? Help me here, Alphonse, this is the first time I do something like this"

"Let me see..." Alphonse flipped the pages until they found one that showed a green woman with a long red dress. She wasn't exactly the image of a strong Persona, but then again, none of the Personas he had screamed 'power' either "This is Silky, of the Priestess arcana. She specializes in both Bufu and Dia magic, in other words, ice and healing. You could have the main powers of two of your Personas in a single one"

"Then let's do that!" The less Personas he had in his head at one time, the better...maybe. Alphonse' palm pointed at Syphus' chest, and in a flash two cards appeared on the table, the images on them showing two Personas: Ouroboros and Apsaras. After confirming again Syphus was okay with the fusion and informed him of the skills it'd have, they passed the cards to Igor for the fusion. While Igor performed the fusion Syphus rested his chin on his fist, looking at Alphonse with curiosity. "You sure seem to know what you're doing. Have you been working with Igor for long?"

"Time doesn't pass linearly in this place" Alphonse replied while Igor passed the Persona Silky into Syphus' soul "One day I was a soul without a vessel...next I knew was that Igor's master found me, and I was given a duty in the Velvet Room" Alphonse glanced at Igor with gratitude "I can only guess the reasons why Philemon chose to help me"

"So...you weren't always, uh..." what was someone like Alphonse called, again? They didn't seem to be human. Alphonse closed their eyes, leaning back on their chair.

"I'm not human, and I'm not a monster. I'm not even the same type of being than Igor, I'm...I'm just a..." Alphonse opened an eye to look at Igor inquisitively.

"Alphonse is a soul given form, residing in the vast realm of unconsciousness" Igor said. Syphus wasn't sure if Igor meant SOUL or soul.

"Yes. That" Alphonse closed his eyes "My master once told me the Velvet Room's form and attendants vary according to the guest. This room isn't always a machinery room! And the reason why I'm the attendant you were assigned..." the attendant went silent. Syphus waited a couple minutes before requesting Alphonse to continue.

Alphonse didn't comply immediately, their face contorting in an expression of concentration. After a moment of internal conflict, they deferred to Igor for advice. "You may have revealed something you didn't intend to. I recommend you clarify and stop while you're ahead"

"Thank you" Alphonse squared their shoulders and looked Syphus straight to the eyes "The reason why I'm the attendant isn't only because I'm the best attendant given your mindset.

The other reason why I'm here is because _I arranged it_."

Syphus furrowed his brow, processing that tidbit of information. So Alphonse made it happen... "How did you do that?"

"That's something I don't want to tell you about right now" they said. Syphus narrowed his eyes, noticing their choice of words. _Want_ , _not_ _can't_.

"Will you ever tell me?"

Alphonse sighed glumly "Maybe I will. I'll have to think about it"

 **You saw a glimpse of Alphonse's machinations.**

 **The** **Velvet Room Attendant** **Social Link has reached Rank 2!**

 **Your power to create Personas of the** **Jester** **Arcana has grown!**

After making another fusion and summoning back Ouroboros for sentimental reasons – and spending his last gold on that - Syphus stood up from his seat. It certainly had been a good idea to come to the Velvet Room, he had used the Personas obtained while inside Frisk's SOUL and felt prepared for whatever could happen. May as well get out and see where things would go, but before that... "Igor, I'm not sure I'll be able to journey through the SOULs all by myself. At some point I could encounter something too strong for me to defeat by myself. Is there a way for other people to obtain Personas?"

"Hmmmm...indeed, there is" Igor nodded "However, it's a matter out of your control. Those who may obtain Personas will have to do it by themselves, and you won't have a way to predict who will succeed and who won't" he refused to say anything further. He had guessed correctly that, if Syphus knew what it entailed to obtain Personas and how it could happen, he'd force the matter and worsen the situation.

"...I see. Thank you" So all he could do was wait and hope for the best. _That's not a good plan!_ "One last question:

How's any of this going to help me find a way to shatter the Barrier?" He hadn't forgotten that was the key to leading the timeline to a good end. Although the whole Persona thing was exciting and he felt he was starting to understand a bit what was going on with that, he saw no relation between that and the Barrier. Igor looked at Alphonse, who pushed his repairman cap higher in their head.

"Did you pick up the remains of Shadow Frisk?" Syphus nossws. Sans had done that, not him, but surely that was good enough "That's going to be of help to shatter the Barrier, but you'll need more materials as strong as that one. Can you guess where to get them?"

"...no way...so that's why this is all happening! I see!" Syphus' eyes widened in realization, his voice raising with joy at finally understanding – or at least hoping he understood "If we keep defeating and collecting materials from the toughest Shadows in people's SOULs, we would have—"

"You'd have enough magical energy to shatter the Barrier" Alphonse completed, smiling "Seven human SOULs are needed, but a mix of the innermost and pure energy from monsters and humans' SOULs _could_ work too. If calibrated and wielded correctly, perhaps you could reach an equivalent force to seven human SOULs?"

"How many pieces will I need?"

Alphonse thought for a moment. "At least a dozen, maybe?"

"Okay, a dozen! Only eleven more and this'll end. Thanks!" with lifted spirits, Syphus grabbed Alphonse's hand, shaking it vigorously, before turning around to wait.

"Syphus, wait!"

Syphus turned around, noting Alphonse had stood up. The attendant adjusted their cap, stalling as if before saying anything they needed to convince themselves to do it. "I'd like to ask you for a favor. If you do it, I'll tell you more about myself"

"A favor? What favor?"

"The world is a wide place, but I can't explore it. I shouldn't stray away from my duties, so I ask you to bring a bit of the world to me. That'll do for now. I request you to bring me..." Alphonse thought for a moment before nodding, they had an idea "...fingerpaint. That's what I want"

"Fingerpaint?" That was an unexpected request "Where can I find that?"

"I don't know. Bring it and I'll give you some more information. Good luck!" Alphonse sat down, satisfied, and although Syphus waited for a moment to see if they'd say anything else, the attendant refused to tell why they wanted such object. _Well that was odd..._ It had been odd but Syphus had to admit he was intrigued. He did intend to look for the fingerpaint, if only to hear more about Alphonse.

The problem was...where in the Underground could such thing be found? Syphus passed by the couch near the door, stopping for a moment. There was something on that couch...nothing visible, but he felt like there was something... _someone_ sitting there. A very, very faint outline sat there, almost invisible. If it hadn't been because to Syphus it felt something familiar was there, he wouldn't have noticed. "Hey, is there something here?" he asked, pointing at the couch and looking at Alphonse and Igor. The first just shrugged and the second didn't do anything. Not having received an answer, Syphus slowly opened the door and exited, without taking his eyes off the couch. Once the door closed, Alphonse sighed, looking at the couch.

"At this rate there will be"

-ooooo-

If the remains of the Shadows were going to be the key to shatter the Barrier, then he had to talk with someone who could help, and as far as he knew, Sans was the best choice for this. He had been the one to create stuff out of materials from the false Mt. Ebott, it was likely he'd know what to do. With that in mind, Syphus returned to the skeletons' house, being greeted by Papyrus. Frisk and he were watching television, watching one of Mettaton's programs. Once Syphus asked where Sans was, Papyrus told him Sans was working in one of his sentry stations. "HE'S FINALLY STARTING TO TAKE HIS JOB SERIOUSLY! I'M PROUD OF HIM!" he had praised "I SHALL PROVIDE YOU OF INDICATIONS OF WHERE HIS MANY STATIONS ARE!" While Papyrus made the list with as many easy instructions as possible, Syphus watched the TV with some interest. The square robot was showing a wide array of products, most of them of the type anyone could obtain in any random store.

"Looks like Mettaton actually started a shopping program" Syphus commented.

"HE DID! TODAY IS THE FIRST BROADCAST, AND I HAVE ALREADY BROUGHT SEVERAL OF HIS NEWEST PRODUCTS!" Mettaton was enthusiastically showing new MTT products, most of which looked of decent quality. Nothing impressive, but it didn't seem like a complete waste of gold either...and then Mettaton mentioned the prize for the kit of makeup products he had been talking about.

"Oh my god" Syphus felt goosebumps at the rather high prize "Is everything as expensive as that?"

"THAT IS ONE OF THE CHEAPEST OFFERS SO FAR"

"Oh geez" That did allow him to realize there was a severe disadvantage he hadn't thought about yet: his lack of gold. Syphus had already spent everything he had, and it didn't seem like he'd be so lucky as to find free gold anytime soon. How to earn gold, then? "I'm going to need a job" he mumbled.

"SORRY, I DIDN'T HEAR WHAT YOU SAID. COULD YOU REPEAT THAT?" Papyrus was finishing the last lines in his instructions.

"I said I'm going to need a job" he said a bit clearly, feeling awkward. Could Syphus even get a job?

"YOU COULD TRY JOINING THE ROYAL GUARD! WITH YOUR FIGHTING SKILLS, YOU'D FIT RIGHT IN!"

Syphus frowned. "...I'd rather stay away from Undyne as far as possible, Papyrus" Not having any other suggestion, Papyrus gave Syphus the list of sentry stations Sans manned and wished him good luck in finding a job. Thankfully, Papyrus didn't ask about if Syphus had found out how to obtain a Persona. It wasn't like the piece would be able to give a straight answer, after all.

Luckily for Syphus, the very first station he checked is where Sans was napping. He was near the Ruins, reclined on his seat and sleeping, a few condiment bottles strewn on the counter. "Sans. We need to talk"

"hm?" Sans didn't even bother opening his eye sockets.

"I'm going to tell you a couple truths because, well, because I need your help. Can you help me?"

"maybe i can" Sans opened an eye socket "what is it?" Syphus, after a pause to think twice what he was going to say, he carefully told the details regarding how to shatter the Barrier without using human SOULs. It was a tale with a few holes he wouldn't be able to explain if Sans chose to try to delve deeper into his words, but Sans didn't bother to do that. Instead he nodded, satisfied with what he heard. "so you need to do somethin' with that glass and iron but you don't know what to do"

"Exactly! And I'll have more stuff later, too"

"i don't think i can help you with this" Sans said plainly, taking a bottle of ketchup and playing with it in his hands. Syphus' feathers fluffed up.

"What? Why not?!"

"i don't have the equipment to do anything with that stuff"

"But everything you made – that coin, the lump that said 'Sans'..."

"those were no big deal, but making something to shatter the barrier? that's a tall order, bud. you're going to have to ask someone else"

"Who should I ask? I know no one else in the Underground besides you, Papyrus and the child, and I'm pretty sure neither Papyrus nor Frisk can do a thing with those"

Sans didn't seem very concerned about Syphus' supposed lack of connections, instead pointing in direction of Waterfall. "there's a lab on the other side of waterfall. you can't miss it, it has 'lab' written all over it. talk with the royal scientist, she'll help you"

"The Royal Scientist?" Alphys? Syphus hadn't really planned to meet her yet – what to say to her? He couldn't just walk to her and introduce himself, right? "Can I really enter the laboratory and talk to her?"

"why not? take this, it could be of help" Sans produced from under the sentry a DVD case, passing it to Syphus. It was of an anime Syphus didn't recognize at all. _Mew Mew Kissy Cutie? This doesn't sound like a good one._ "don't look at it like that. it won't bite"

"I'm not a fan of anime"

Sans chuckled in amusement "try not to say that when she's nearby. is this all you need?"

Syphus took the DVD and put it in his pocket, right beside the collapsible halberd. "Yeah, I'm leaving now. Hotland isn't exactly around the corner"

"don't you need a job?"

The piece stopped in his tracks, turning around slowly. "How do you know that?"

"don't tell paps, but i arrived here right before you" Sans winked, his grin widening slightly "i'll lend you a hand with this problem too, but I have a favor to ask"

"What is it?"

"don't get my brother involved in your Persona antics unless you really need his help, okay?" Sans' voice got a little bit harsher "i don't know everything, but i'm not sure i like what i have seen so far. keep papyrus out of danger"

Syphus could understand that, of course Sans wouldn't want Papyrus to be in danger unnecessarily, and the piece was fine with that. He nodded. "I won't drag him into this. Thanks, Sans" Satisfied, Sans leaned back on his chair.

"cool. once you're done talking to alphys meet me at grillbys, 'kay?"

-ooooo-

Just like Sans had said, the building at the entrance of Hotland had 'LAB' written in rather large letters, right above the entrance. It truly was impossible to miss. Syphus loosened his jacket, starting to feel the heat of this part of the Underground, made sure that he had the items from Shadow Frisk, having retrieved them right before coming, and took out the DVD case. _Alright, time to meet Alphys..._ Syphus knocked on the door, waiting for the scientist to open. After a minute or so, there was a voice behind the door. "Who is it?"

"Uh, it's..." Saying his name wasn't going to be of help, so maybe... "I have something from Sans"

"From Sans? Uh, h-hey! I'm opening!" The door of the laboratory entered, Alphys standing right behind the door threshold. Syphus held the DVD case forward, being careful to keep his illusionary claws away from Alphys in an attempt to not to blow his cover. Alphys took the case, her eyes glinting with joy behind her glasses "I lent this one to him long ago! What did he say? Did he like it?"

"I'm sure he found it...interesting" Syphus' eyes darted around "I should introduce myself. My name is Syphus, and I, hm, I live in Snowdin" he almost extended his hand, but refrained at the last moment, instead tucking it in his pocket. The refusal to shake claws didn't go unnoticed to Alphys, who started looking at the ground, a bit too awkward to look him to the face.

"A-Alright, nice to meet you. I'm Dr. Alphys, I'm the Royal Scientist, and...that's about it! I...heheh, I should get going" she smiled apologetically and turned around, but Syphus stopped her with a 'wait!'.

"Doctor, I need your help with a problem. Sans told me you were the right person for the job, so here I am. Mind if we talk about it?"

"Uh, if you think I'm going to be of help then I suppose y-you can come in! This way, please" she led Syphus into the laboratory, passing in front of a very large covering, right where Syphus remembered the screen to observe Frisk was located at. _Why's she covering it up? This didn't happen any other time._ "What's this? An experiment?"

"T-that? Yes, it's an experiment! Please don't touch it!" Alphys hurried to try to guide Syphus quicker to the other side of the laboratory, as if he had gotten lost along the way somehow. Once Syphus was seated far away from the screen and Alphys offered soda, she stood nearby, idly clicking her claws together "S-So...what's this you wanted to talk about?"

Syphus tried to look confident and assertive. If he was going to lie his ass off, then he had to be convincing. "Dr. Alphys, I have heard about what you need to do. Breaking the Barrier isn't an easy job, much less when it's by using some sort of artificial SOUL method"

"Ah, that? Yeah, it's tough...but I'm w-w-working very hard on it" Alphys stared to the floor. It was common knowledge how she had obtained the Royal Scientist job, and she knew what everyone expected of her. Didn't make it less stressful, though. Is that what this guy came for? To prod and pressure her? Just what she needed, some random guy doing that. What a wonderful day. Alphys wondered for the umpteenth time what she was doing playing Royal Scientist like this. She truly was a scientist, and a rather skillful one, but what Asgore and monsterkind expected from her was something she had no idea how to do yet. Syphus nodded.

"Wonderful! But you have an alternate plan, right?"

"...an alternate plan? I'm not sure what you—what you mean"

"If the artificial SOUL thing doesn't work you're going to need some other way to shatter the Barrier"

If Alphys could pale she would have. She hadn't thought of an alternate plan! Did such thing even exist, when she couldn't even think of a main plan? "Y-Yeah! I have one. You don't have to worry about it"

Syphus smiled just a bit, looking queasy instead of confident. "I have something to offer you. If it works, the Barrier will be broken! And we'll all be free. It's worth a try, right?"

Alphys wasn't as naïve or stupid as to jump onto the offer without asking questions. She froze, processing what she just heard, and then slowly looked at him. "What's your proposal?"

"Here, look at this" Syphus took out of his pocket the glass and iron from Shadow Frisk, passing them to Alphys "I found these objects in a very deep part of the Underground, and it has _a lot_ of magical energy embedded inside!"

The scientist took the glass, immediately sensing the abundant magic contained in those worthless-looking objects. "How's this possible...?"

"I don't know! But I think these aren't the only materials in the Underground containing this much magic inside. If I can find enough of these materials, some kind of machine or tool to break the Barrier could be made!"

"I-I see, but..." To Alphys it was nothing she hadn't heard about before. The CORE itself had been made created not only to create magical electricity for the Underground, but also as an attempt to shatter the Barrier with monumental amounts of energy. Not even the CORE had managed to do that. How would a few pieces of glass and iron have the energy to do something the CORE couldn't do? It didn't make sense at all. "I-I'm not sure this is going to work..."

"But it's worth a try, right?"

"I don't know...this is unexpected, I don't know if I can help you" Alphys stammered for a second, hurrying to add something else "I-I-I-I'm not saying 'no', I just want some time to think! Dedicating time to your proposal would mean investing less time to the other projects, I need to check the status of everything, so I-"

"It's fine. There's no hurry" Syphus said a bit flatly, standing up "It was nice to meet you, Dr. Alphys"

"The s-same to you, Mr. Syphus...I—if you find more of these things you could bring them. I'll take a look and..." she wiped some sweat from her brow "We'll talk later, okay?" It was better than nothing, at least. Syphus nodded. "And if you see Sans, tell him I said thank you. For recommending me to you. It's...it feels nice to know he believes I'm good enough for this"

"How do you know Sans, anyway?"

"Sans used to work with the former Royal Scientist...I used to come and talk to him a bit, you know, I always was interested in science. H-He was a very motivated s-skeleton back then"

"...we're still talking about Sans, right?" It was a bit hard to have 'Sans' and 'motivated' in the same sentence, that much Syphus knew. Alphys nodded, smiling nostalgically.

"He was laidback but there was something about science that made him a-actually work. I d-don't know why he doesn't care much anymore, but...but he's always going to be a scientist, even if he doesn't do science anymore...that's what I think"

Syphus scratched the side of his face, luckily Alphys didn't realize the way his claws were clipping into his scales. "That's a bit hard to believe. He's not the most enthusiastic monster nowadays"

"I-I know! I hope he's alright..." Alphys muttered "Everyone has days where they feel sad and useless, I know that, but Sans tries to hide how he feels and I think he doesn't want help. I don't know if he thinks no one notices it but...everyone knows it...and no one knows what to do"

 _...I had no idea it was that bad_. "Is there something I can do?"

"Try to be a friend to him. I think...that's the most you c-can do right now" Alphys said, and Syphus looked away, inexpressive. That was going to be rather difficult. Sans was trying to keep him away at arm distance – at the very least. Actually connecting with Sans was going to be a challenge. _Does he even have a Social Link?_ If he had, then the moment he managed to start a link with Sans would be the moment he'd know Sans had finally accepted him.

"I better get going" Syphus said, adjusting his jacket "Thanks for everything, Dr. Alphys"

"C-Come back anytime! And I mean it, bring me those scraps of things you find, and I'll see what I can d-do" Alphys extended her claw, but Syphus again refused to shake hands, instead bowing his head.

 **You have established a cooperation agreement with Alphys.**

 **You feel a faint bond forming between you and Alphys**

 **Thou art I... And I am thou**

 **Thou hast established a new bond**

 **Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Priestess Arcana**

Alphys started leading Syphus out, as if fearing Syphus would run to the screen behind the curtain and find out about the human. "T-Tell Sans I say hi" along the way she glanced at the repaired camera, considering for a moment to ask Syphus to go put the camera where it was supposed to go, but she decided not to bother him with that.

 _This went well._ It wasn't perfect, but it was fine. At least he had the possibility of maybe relying on Alphys to make something with the remains of the Shadow selves of people, it was one step closer to shattering the Barrier.

He was finally feeling like he was achieving something.

-ooooo-

Grillby's was a place Syphus hadn't really thought he'd visit. When he entered he had barely gone five feet forward when the usual patrons started realizing something unusual was happening. The Royal Guard dogs raised their noses, being the first ones to notice the stranger amidst the usual population of Snowdin. The conversations quieted without completely disappearing, everyone looking at Syphus with a mix of curiosity and wariness. It wasn't every day that someone new strode into Grillby's, and while everyone was usually willing to welcome a new patron, they wanted to get used to the new person's presence before trying to even talk to them. Syphus stopped, not having expected everyone to look at him, but took a deep breath and went towards the counter, where Sans was waiting.

Sans waved at him without even turning around. Once Syphus sat on the stool beside Sans the skeleton turned his head around. "sup, 'phus. how did it go?" he signaled at Grillby's, who put a plate of fries in front of Syphus. Sans already had his.

"Are we sure we should talk in a public place like this one?" No one was paying attention to Syphus anymore, but it still made Syphus a tad uneasy to discuss such matters in here. Sans shrugged.

"no one will listen. it may be hard to believe, but people don't have the hobby of eavesdropping" It didn't matter that there were patrons just a few feet away, Sans was sure no one would care enough to really try to listen. Syphus poked the fries, still a bit wary of talking in a pub about the recent developments, but Sans looked like he had no intentions of moving from his seat.

"Fine. Alphys...she didn't exactly jump onto the chance, but she didn't reject it either. I think we can rely on her once I get more materials"

"great. told you she was the right one for the task" Sans said. Syphus bit onto some of the fries. They weren't bad at all.

"So, how's Frisk?"

"they're going to stay with papyrus and I for a while" the skeleton said, Syphus breathing in relief. Good! Frisk was listening to him! He had no idea for how long Frisk would stay in the skeleton brother's house, but it was good enough they were delaying their journey for the moment. Sans grabbed a bottle of ketchup, drinking it all in a single swig.

"How long are they going to stay with you?"

"dunno. maybe a week or two" That wasn't really that long, but maybe it'd delay things enough for Undyne to not to get in Frisk's way, or something. "since you talked with alphys i'll lend you a hand with your job problem"

"You mean you can get me a job?" _Is it going to be selling hot dogs, Sans?_

"watch this" Sans turned to Grillby's "hey. this guy here's looking for a job. got something for him?"

"..." Grillby didn't even look at Syphus, he was drying glasses. A nearby monster, a bird of a faded red color, raised a wing, getting Syphus' attention.

"Grillby asks about your qualifications"

"Oh? Oh! Uh..." Syphus glared at Sans for a moment for putting him on the spot so suddenly, and looked at Grillby "I have worked in customer support, and I know how to deal with customers" It had been decades since he truly had a job, but it wasn't like Grillby needed to know about that.

"..."

"Have you ever worked at a pub?" the bird 'translated'.

"Not really, I worked in—" Syphus hadn't finished talking when Grillby reached under the counter and pulled a rag, passing it to Syphus. The piece stared at it for a moment before taking it, momentarily wondering how Grillby could hold something like the rag without burning it to cinders.

The bird, having seen Grillby's action, hurried to say something. "And also he says you're hired!"

"...oh. Thanks, Mr. Grillby..." Syphus said happily and a bit louder than necessary, taking the rag and looking at Sans "Guess I got a job now"

"congratulations, bud" Sans raised his empty bottle of ketchup in Syphus' honor, making him chuckle.

"How did you even manage to get me a job in five minutes?"

"magic" the skeleton did jazz hands and refused to say anything else about that.

"..."

"Sans promised to pay his tab in full if Grillby helped you" the bird explained. _Isn't that a bribe?!_ Well, whatever worked, Syphus supposed. What mattered was that at least he'd have some gold available, and that was good enough. While the bird started telling Syphus about his duties and what Grillby expected from him – mostly keeping everything in the pub clean - Sans got off the stool.

"good luck, 'phus. here's some handy tips" Sans pointed at the regulars of the pub "the dogs like to have scraps fed under the table, but don't take personal if they don't trust you at first. keep the drinks coming for that bunny over there. the jukebox doesn't work. ah, and if you can tell the toothy fellow over there facts about human food then do it. see ya" he walked away after telling Grillby to add the fries to his tab, leaving Syphus to continue receiving the improvised induction to his new part-time job.

* * *

 **SOCIAL LINKS:**

 **Fool - Frisk - RANK 4**

 **Magician - ? - RANK 0**

 **Priestess - Alphys - RANK 1**

 **Empress - Toriel - RANK 2**

 **Emperor - Cohen - RANK 2**

 **Hierophant - ? - RANK 0**

 **Lovers - ? - RANK 0**

 **Chariot - Ananas - RANK 2**

 **Justice - ? - RANK 0**

 **Hermit - ? - RANK 0**

 **Fortune - ? - RANK 0**

 **Strength - ? - RANK 0**

 **Hanged Man - ? - RANK 0**

 **Death - Cornio - RANK 1**

 **Temperance - ? - RANK 0**

 **Devil - ? - RANK 0**

 **Tower - ? - RANK 0**

 **Star - Lucia - RANK 1**

 **Moon - ? - RANK 0**

 **Sun - Papyrus - RANK 2**

 **Judgment - ? - RANK 0**

 **Aeon - Syphus - RANK 1**

 **Jester - Alphonse - RANK 2**


	13. The Old Man and the Girl

Alphys watched the screen. The human child seemed to be staying in Sans and Papyrus' house, they hadn't gone out in quite a while. The camera in this area of Snowdin was positioned in a way she could see most of the street. Since no other camera in the Underground had shown the human child at all, she could only suppose they were still in there, unless somehow the human child had acquired excellent stealth skills.

"Around here?" Undyne's voice came from the cellphone Alphys had requested her to carry for a moment. Alphys stopped looking at the feed from Snowdin and focused on the transmission from the camera Undyne had.

"Y-Yeah! You're near where it was. It's on the right, and—"

"I got a better idea. How about here?" Undyne jumped and managed to leave the camera on a ledge, rather tall on the wall. From that point Alphys could see all the way down the hall instead of just the space inside the chamber it had been at before. There was Undyne with her usual toothy grin, looking at the camera with pride. Alphys felt something fluttering inside her, smiling foolishly for a moment before pressing the phone against the side of her head.

"That's perfect! Thanks, Undyne" Alphys said and hanged up, watching Undyne jog away, intending to finish her daily duties as the Captain of the Royal Guard. She could always rely on Undyne for even the smallest things...how lucky she was to have her. Cheered up, Alphys went to her work table and continued working on one of the many cell phones she had, starting her plan to add a jetpack function. It was going to work only for a little while, but that was enough for what she hoped would happen.

-ooooo-

Nothing happened during the night in the Hidden Village. It was now the start of the fourth day of the game. Syphus stifled a yawn, stretching his arms and swiveling from side to side. His back ached. Why did Cohen need such stiff mattresses? Seriously. _I shouldn't complain_ he thought, smacking his face a few times _._ It was nice enough of him to give Syphus a place to rest while his cottage was finished. Behaving like he deserved more was very ungrateful, and he knew it. Syphus grimaced, a tad disgusted with himself.

It was the first day of his part-time job at Grillby's. The pay was far from fantastic – after a while Grillby had made clear he didn't really need an employee, that he had given Syphus a job mostly as a favor to Sans – but every single bit of gold was good to Syphus. The piece wasn't going to slack off, though. He was going to show he was thankful, and he'd do his best. That was why after making sure to not to look like he was dragged all the way up Mt. Ebott by the back of his jacket, Syphus started the walk to Snowdin.

He was actually a bit nervous. Could he really be able to work half a day in a pub full of monsters without blowing his cover? He really hoped so, but what if someone tried to touch him? What if he accidentally disabled the brooch's magic and revealed himself as a human in front of everyone? _I can't let those possibilities stop me. I really need the gold!_ He told himself before entering Grillby's. Many of the regulars were already inside. Some of the Royal Guard dogs turned their heads around when Syphus passed by, but everyone else ignored him.

As a whole it wasn't a bad day of work. Following the red bird's instruction supposedly relayed by Grillby, Syphus cleaned every inch of the counter, the floor behind the counter, the jukebox...everything on the back of the pub. "What about the rest?" Syphus asked, wringing the almost-dry rag in his hands.

"..."

"Grillby says he takes care of all that after closing" the bird said. Right at that moment, one of the dogs moved, a plate with leftovers falling to the floor. Syphus glanced at Grillby, who nodded. Syphus approached the table, crouching to pick up the leftovers from the floor. Just like before, all the dogs paid attention to him, observing every single of his movements. _Do they know I'm not...?_ there was something unnerving in having so many canine eyes on him, and after a few seconds Syphus dared to look up.

All the Royal Guard dogs seemed to be on edge. Dogamy looked away with a whine, avoiding to make eye contact. Dogaressa growled softly, baring her fangs, warning him to not to come any closer. Doggo, his fur standing on end, slowly chewed on a dog biscuit, looking as if he was about to say something, but thinking it twice. Syphus gulped and mumbled a 'Uuuuh...' while haltingly slinking away, glancing at the other two dogs. Greater Dog hid their face behind the cards they were holding, while Lesser Dog, away in another table, warily looked from the corner of their eyes, trembling slightly. Syphus shrunk, crouching and getting away to the counter as quick as possible with the plate and leftovers.

"That's not normal..." the bird mumbled, having seen the Royal Guard dogs' reaction to Syphus. Grillby looked at Syphus inquisitively.

"I don't know what happened" Syphus said, confused and looking back at that table. The dogs had continued their game, although they all looked rather uneasy. There was a stain on the floorboards where the plate had fallen, as Syphus had retired instead of cleaning it up. "I should go back and—"

"..."

"You don't have to do that" the bird waved his wing. Syphus exhaled through his nose, the feathers on his head and back flattening, and nodded. As much as he hated to admit it, it was for the better to not to approach the dogs.

A couple hours later Sans and Frisk arrived. Everyone greeted Sans with high spirits, not questioning the presence of Frisk. Once Sans and Frisk were seated to the counter, Frisk greeted Syphus cheerfully. "Hello!"

"hey. how's the job going?" Sans asked and ordered 'the usual' to Grillby.

"So far? It's nice. I think I'm doing well" Syphus continued scrubbing the floorboards of the wall near the jukebox.

"no problems so far?"

"Um, actually...the dogs don't like me very much. It's a bit strange"

Frisk raised their eyebrows, getting off their stool and approaching the dogs with abandon while Syphus observed from the corner of his eyes. The dogs reacted completely different to how they had done with Syphus. Frisk was even allowed to pet them, scratch Greater Dog behind the ears, and although it seemed like they knew there was something a bit off with Frisk, they didn't react with hostility like they had done with the piece.

"..."

"Something wrong?" the bird asked. Syphus jumped in surprise, noticed he had stopped scrubbing, and continued with the task. There was something about the Royal Guard dogs' reaction that bothered him, but he wasn't sure what it was. A few minutes later Frisk returned to their seat with a big and satisfied smile on their face.

"you look like you had fun, kiddo" Sans commented, Frisk nodding enthusiastically.

"Do they know about...um..." Syphus moved a hand in Frisk's direction, hoping Sans would understand the meaning of his question. The skeleton did seem to catch on. The points of light in his eye sockets shone with what seemed a bit like amusement.

"'course they know frisk is a human. did ya really think we could keep them with us without no one knowing they're human?"

"...actually, that's what I thought"

"rumors fly, 'phus. no one beyond snowdin knows about frisk, though" That was a bit of a consolation, at least. The fact the whole town seemed to be okay with Frisk being around was a tad mindboggling for Syphus. _I thought some would be trying to get their SOUL..._ "hey, don't look at them like that. most people don't want to sacrifice a kid to get their SOUL, you know"

"...no comment" Better not to speak about the events in other timelines, Syphus guessed. The piece stepped back to check better the jukebox, trying to see where it was dirtier.

"The dogs were talking about you, mister" Frisk said, half-climbing on the counter to lean towards Syphus "They said there was something strange about how you smelled"

"I haven't bathed in four days" Syphus continued cleaning the jukebox.

"maybe you should keep that to yourself"

"No, that's not what they meant" Frisk leaned their face on their hand, thinking "They said something like...you smelled like motor oil and plastic" Syphus froze, not turning around. If his claws had been real, they'd have torn through the rag. Frisk smiled, unaware of the implications of what they said "Weird, right?"

"yeah. weird" Sans didn't miss the meaning of what Frisk said. The skeleton got off the stool and looked at Grillby "hey. i have to tell your helper something very important. mind if i take him outside for a sec?"

"...go ahead" Grillby actually replied.

"great. let's go, 'phus, the burgers will freeze if we take too long. the perks of living in snowdin, yanno" Sans went outside. Syphus, after a moment of hesitation, left the rag aside and followed him. Given that Sans before hadn't been worried at all about talking about stuff inside Grillby's, he requesting to go outside to talk was rather alarming for Syphus. He swallowed, feeling his throat suddenly dry. Frisk glanced, mouthing 'sorry', unsure of what they had said that had made Sans want to talk with Syphus alone.

Snowdin started seeming foreboding to Syphus. The quietness, the cold, the trees surrounding the town...it all seemed more menacing now that Sans had called him outside to talk. The skeleton was standing nearby, looking upwards. Once Syphus approached, Sans sighed. "i don't think you're a bad guy, syphus, but there's something about you i don't like. it's how you don't fit at all in the world. something's going on and you're the cause of it all"

"...what do you want me to say, Sans?"

"tell me if I'm right or wrong" Sans stuck his hands in the pockets of his hoodie, nonchalant "you're not a monster or a human. i think you're a Shadow"

"Why do you think that?" Syphus crossed his arms, listening carefully.

"besides what those dogs said? your eyes when you were in human form. i don't know much about humans, but i don't think having golden eyes like yours is normal in humans" Sans turned his head around, looking at Syphus "i saw the eyes of that thing when it took over frisk. they had the same golden eyes than you.

you're someone else's Shadow, the Shadow of someone who is 'the apprentice of the witch of hope'. did i hit jackpot?"

Syphus stared at Sans in silence, closing his eyes. After a pause he shrugged. "I underestimated you, Sans. I guessed you'd find out most of these things, but I didn't think it'd be so soon"

"so i'm right"

"To be honest I don't really know much about myself. I know I'm someone's...um...'puppet', and that I have no past or anything, but other than that I know nothing about myself" Syphus narrowed his eyes, deep in thought "Maybe you're right and I'm his Shadow. I don't know"

"what are you here for?"

"I know the goal I was assigned: shatter the Barrier without using human SOULs. That's all I know"

"who's this witch of hope person and the apprentice?"

 _...how do I explain that one._ "Do you believe there's someone watching us? People from a higher plane of existence, or something like that?"

"like gods?" Sans looked up again as if he expected someone to be literally watching from the ceiling of the cavern.

"Witches can be outrageously powerful, but they aren't gods. They're more like..." Syphus gestured with his hands helplessly. It was very difficult to explain; he hadn't rehearsed this! _Damn it, Sans_! "...witches are like asteroids"

"...like asteroids" The lights in Sans' eye sockets got brighter and a little bit bigger.

"Yeah. They're there, floating away from you, and then, in an astronomically low chance, one of them chooses to mess with you or your world by crashing and destroying everything"

Sans chuckled. "well, you do your thing with the witches and the Personas. i'm not going to meddle with your _personal_ business" he winked while Syphus simply looked bemused "just try not to wreck the timeline" That went okay. At least Sans had taken his explanations at face value. Either he had been rather convincing and not confusing at all – _yeah, right_ – or Sans simply didn't really care about that.

"How can you not care, Sans?"

"...i have reasons to think whatever happens doesn't matter in the long run" Sans said before entering back to Grillby's. Syphus, a bit uneasy from the short talk with Sans, followed him back inside. There was a job to be done, after all. It was a bit nice that he wouldn't have to hide from Sans some details, but he hoped no one else would find out. He could at least trust Sans not to tell anyone, that was good enough.

Sans, despite his otherwise blasé way to take the information, wasn't feeling as calm as he had looked. When he sat back to Frisk's side, the child looked at him inquisitively. "t'was nothing, kiddo. we just had a talk" that was enough for Frisk, not really daring to ask more. The skeleton sighed, his shoulders slumping.

Witches. Right. So that was it. That must have been the cause of the mess with the timelines. A bunch of beings from a higher plane had decided to have fun at the world's expense. So many lives were nothing to them, apparently. All the rest of the theories, all the thoughts about the causes, everything had to be revised. Perhaps the skill to SAVE and RESET, the one Frisk had said to have, was given to them by a witch? It didn't really matter. All Sans knew was that it was useless. There was nothing to be done, even if he wanted, and it wasn't like he had felt like trying anything, either way.

"...oh well. come on, kid. let's go home" he said to Frisk. If the timeline events were likely to turn into a major disaster, then maybe the least he should do was give Frisk and Papyrus safety until things unavoidably went into the deep end.

-ooooo-

"...Lucia...did he...do that to this world?"

Cornio had murmured that softly, looking at Sisyphus. The apprentice winced, knowing exactly what Cornio meant. As far as he was concerned, yes, he was the one responsible for everything bad that was happening with the timelines. Lucia didn't hurry to throw Sisyphus under the bus, though. She took her time before talking, smoothing over her dress and pressing her hands together over and over again, until she finally moved her head lackadaisically, going 'uuuuh'.

"...it's not as simple as that. I can tell you that Sisyphus was the one who created the circumstances that led to the repeating timelines, but he's not entirely responsible for that"

"So who did it?"

Lucia stopped moving, lifted her blindfold enough for one single eye to be shown, gave him a withering glance and then slowly said, her eye opening so wide Cornio shuddered, unable to look away.

"Are you feigning ignorance, buddy?"

"N-No, I just..." Cornio's voice got meek "I was just wondering"

Lucia stared at him for a moment before lowering the blindfold over her eye. "You have seen all the information I gave you, dear Cornio, you should know. Sisyphus' timeline manipulation was just the catalyst. There were some people inside this world had a lot to do with it: Frisk, Flowey and Chara. Sisyphus made the land fertile, and those three made grow the plants. You didn't think Sisyphus created all those millions of timelines all by himself, did you?"

Something in Lucia's voice discouraged any kind of wish to argue about it, but she had made clear enough that it'd be incorrect to blame Sisyphus for everything. Sisyphus himself was looking at Lucia with perplexed expression. Did he even know he wasn't entirely to blame for all the timelines? "I understand" Cornio said, scooting his chair a bit further away from Lucia. There was an uncomfortable silence for a moment before Sisyphus, in an attempt to break it, stood up and crouched near Cornio for a strategic question.

"Should I ever tell Sans more about this?" Sisyphus wondered aloud. Cornio, thankful for the possibility of Lucia diverting her attention away from the other topic, nodded immediately.

"You should!" he said

"You shouldn't" she said.

 _The decision is up to me? Dang it..._ _Better not, at least for the time being_. After telling Cornio they should talk, know each other better during the next break, Sisyphus took a piece and moved it forward. Cornio was close to making another attack, he could see it. The only thing to do right now was try to strengthen up his Social Links and be prepared for the second assault.

-ooooo-

Grillby wasn't a bad boss at all! After checking around to see the result of Syphus' work he paid him, giving him a couple hundred gold for the day of work. It was way more than Syphus expected! "Oh my god, thank you, thank you!" Syphus said, clutching the gold.

"..."

"Don't mention it. Sans's actually paying part of his tab" the bird 'translated', getting out of the pub. He was still a long way away from affording anything Mettaton showed in his shopping show, but a few hundred gold was a nice enough pay for one single day. Not having anything else to do in Snowdin for now, so Syphus started making his way back to the Hidden Village. While passing in front of the trees lining the roads, he slowed down, having an idea. Cohen had said Ciruel had lost his antlers, hadn't he?

Fifty minutes later the piece was in front of the door to Ciruel's cabin, brooch deactivated and with a few branches in his hands. "Ciruel, it's me, Syphus. I don't think we have introduced formally yet?"

"...fine" Ciruel sighed so loudly Syphus could hear it from outside. The person who Syphus knew as a scholar in the timeline he came from had taken off the purple make-up off his face, and he seemed rather grouchy. "My name is Ciruel, and what I do for this village is...pretty much nothing. That's it"

"I'm Syphus and I bring you this" the piece showed the branches he had collected from Snowdin "Cohen told me you lost part of some disguise you had, so I brought you these" The gift was something Ciruel hadn't expected at all. He looked at the branches, hesitating, and slowly extended his hands.

"T-Thanks!" he sounded grateful despite how hesitant he was. Ciruel stepped aside. "Come in, let's talk" The inside of Ciruel's cabin was mostly identical to Cohen's. The only difference was that Ciruel had a desk, where several boxes of something were stacked. Ciruel took out from one of them a long strand of leather, and started taking off most of the leaves from the branches "You didn't have to bring me this. We don't even know each other"

"It's simple courtesy! We're from the same village now"

"I guess..." the rather short conversation died. Syphus tilted his head, a bit surprised. It seemed that growing trapped in the Underground had made Ciruel a tad shyer than how he had been in the first timeline, he even refused to look Syphus to the face.

"What's up with the costume, by the way?" Syphus inquired as an attempt to get him to talk. Ciruel smiled almost imperceptibly, working on the leather.

"I don't know what Cohen has told you, so I better set the record straight just in case: yes, I like to get out of this village pretty often. No. I'm not some kind of useless bum. It's simple as that" Ciruel tilted his head "...I just believe humans aren't made to be locked like this in one place"

"What about monsters?"

Ciruel winced. "Monsters aren't made to be locked under a mountain either! Sorry, I misspoke" he continued working on the leather "So I get out of here with a monster disguise and explore" he stopped working, smiling widely "Monsters are interesting creatures! I'm happy I can get out of here and talk to them"

"Aren't you afraid of getting caught?"

The scholar's smile vanished immediately. He looked away, greatly uncomfortable. "...w-well, of course I do, but if it happens then it happens. That's that" _Ah._ Ciruel's fate in the original universe had been especially grim, having voluntarily given his SOUL to monsterkind through suicide. All Syphus hoped was that Ciruel wasn't leaning towards doing those same actions. Ciruel smiled tensely. "Hey! I know you like to leave the village too! How about we go together next time?"

"Do you really want that?"

"Yes! It'll be fun. I don't know how you manage to go outside and not get attacked by monsters, but if you want you can join me next time. It's the least I should do as thanks for you bringing me the branches. What do you say?"

It was comforting to know that Ciruel didn't seem to be considering giving his SOUL away. If he had, he wouldn't be offering Syphus to go with him, right? Syphus nodded, relieved. "I'd like that. Thanks, pal"

 **You feel Ciruel's genuine gratefulness.**

 **You feel a faint bond forming between you and Ciruel**

 **Thou art I... And I am thou...**

 **Thou hast established a new bond...**

 **Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Hierophant Arcana**

Hierophant Arcana? Wasn't that his Persona Omoikane's arcana? _Good news, I think!_ Syphus opened his mouth to say something else when they heard a loud commotion from outside. It sounded like two people were arguing rather loudly. Having heard it too, Ciruel went and opened the window a bit, taking a look outside. He grimaced. "Those two are at it again. This got old ages ago"

"Who are you talking about?"

"Cohen and Annie. They have fights like this one once or twice a week" he stepped aside so Syphus could join him to the window and listen. Ananas and Cohen were standing not too far away from Ciruel's cottage, shouting at each other. Ananas was rather red-faced, while Cohen looked livid.

"...you don't trust me! I know I can do it!" she yelled.

"We have talked about this many times: no, you can't do it! Stop it already!"

"Why?! What's wrong with me?!"

Cohen grit his teeth and raised a few fingers. "You're too young, too inexperienced and if any monsters came here they'd kill you immediately"

"I can defend myself!"

"You can't! You're just eight years old! Know your place, Annie"

Ananas recoiled as if Cohen had just hit her. Blinking quickly to try to hide her tears, she tried to refute what Cohen had said, but all she could do was blubber incoherently, chance Cohen took advantage of to continue enumerating the many reasons why Ananas was unfit to be the guardian. Almost none of the points Cohen mentioned were valid, they were more like personal attacks, and with every word, Ananas recoiled more and more, getting redder each time. "...do you really think pretending to be a cowboy will keep monsters away? Grow up already, Annie! Enough with the childish games!..."

"...I hadn't realized Cohen could be so ruthless..." Syphus whispered, horrified. Ananas was looking as if she wanted the ground to open and make her disappear.

"That person is the one who's taking care of the village. Can you believe it?" Ciruel had stopped looking outside, leaning on the wall with upset expression. "We hate that guy. Celia is the only one who wants him around"

"Does this happen every week?"

"Without fail. I like Annie, and I like that she hasn't given up, but someday she'll have to learn it's useless to argue against Cohen" Ciruel murmured "He's way too stubborn"

"I'm doing my best! I just want to help!" Ananas was openly crying now, shouting higher but her voice was starting to crack. She knew she wouldn't last much longer arguing against Cohen, and the old man knew it as well. That's why he took a deep breath and steeled himself to end the argument.

"You'll be of more help if you stop trying. Annie, you'll never be guardian as long as I'm here. Forget about it"

"B-B-But—"

"I told you to forget about it!"

He simply wasn't going to listen. Ananas hiccupped, crying with such intensity Syphus felt as if something was twisting inside him, compelling him to go outside and help Ananas. "Do you think anyone would mind if I go and punch Cohen?"

"Don't. You'll lose" Ciruel shook his head "He's way too good at punching. Let it end, like it always does" at that moment Graham appeared in scene, approaching Cohen and Ananas. He looked at them, realizing immediately what was going on.

"Again?" he asked in disbelief.

"It's not my—" Cohen tried to defend himself, but Graham ignored him and went to Ananas. He helped Ananas stand up, whispering to her.

"It's okay. Don't listen to him, Annie. You're a capable girl"

"This is why she keeps asking, you're all feeding her hopes" Cohen mumbled, crossing his arms. Graham turned his head around.

"Shut up! Can't you see how much you're hurting her?" that seemed to snap Cohen out of his behavior. He looked at Ananas, his mouth forming a thin line, then murmured a 'sorry' and walked away to his usual sentry station on the edge of the village. Once Cohen was far enough, Graham said to Ananas something softly enough Syphus couldn't hear it.

It had been a rather ugly scene, one that had changed Syphus' opinion of Cohen. "Come on, let's go outside" Syphus said, opening the door, but the scholar refused.

"I'm staying here. I'm not getting involved in this mess"

"How can you just stand aside and do nothing?!"

Ciruel raised his hands defensively. "What do you want me to do? I'd be useless, Syphus. Go if you want, I want nothing to do with this"

"Are you making excuses to not to help Annie?" Syphus' accusing question was a wake-up call. Ciruel looked at the floor for a moment before nodding.

"...yes. I'm sorry. I just don't know what to do" _That's the worst excuse you could give!_ There were few things worse than refusing to do something just because he didn't know what to do, that's what Syphus thought, but this wasn't the time to give anyone a moral speech. Rolling his eyes, Syphus exited the cabin to where Graham and Annie were talking, approaching slowly.

"Sheriff? Are you okay?"

"M-Mister Syphus...I...I tried to talk to him, but—"

"How may I help you?" Graham interrupted, looking at Syphus with distrust. _What? Did I do something wrong?_

"I just want to talk to her" the piece said softly. Graham looked at Ananas, leaving it up to her, and the girl nodded after a pause. Accepting Ananas' wishes, Graham stood up and walked away. Ananas, still sitting, grabbed her knees, looking at the rocky floor with melancholy. She had stopped crying but she looked very dispirited, like she was bound to crying again at the slightest provocation. Her face was still very red. "...will you be okay, Annie?"

"...I don't know" she said, rubbing her eyes fiercely as if that was going to dry her tears "I don't want to see Cohen again. I hate him! W-Why did he say—"

"Annie, don't say that. He just...he cares for you and doesn't want to see you hurt" Syphus himself didn't believe that. He had no idea why Cohen had gone for the jugular like that, destroying Ananas' hopes, but he chose to give Cohen the benefit of the doubt.

"Why everyone says that?!" It seemed this wasn't the first time someone tried to think for excuses for Cohen's behavior. How many times had they fought like that? Ciruel had hinted it happened way too often, but how long had it been happening? Ananas hid her face with her shawl. "I don't care. I just want him to stop saying that

Every time he says I'll never be the guardian, or that I'm too weak, or that it's better I stay out of the way and stop bothering him...I want to show him he's wrong. I'm not useless! I'll show him!" she made a move to stand up, but Syphus softly pressed on her shoulders, forcing her to stay sitting on the ground. Once she stopped resisting he let her go, the girl staying sitting down. Once again she was showing to be excessively impulsive, although it was no surprise after what happened. Anyone would want to prove their worth.

"And what are you going to do?" Better to try to find out and convince her not to do something that may prove not to be wise. Ananas clenched her fists, holding them in front of her face, until her shoulders dropped and she laid on the floor, looking at the ceiling of the cave.

"...I don't know. I don't know, mister. I...I have no idea what to do" she puts her hands on her chest and turned her head slightly in his direction "What should I do?"

 _I don't know either, Annie_. Syphus slowly passed his hands through his hair, trying to think of something to say. Just saying 'I don't know' was bound not to be taken well, in his opinion, so he had to think of something, and quick, before she got impatient. "Uh, do you want my...honest, true to heart opinion?"

"Yeah" she seemed honest, paying attention to him.

"Okay, so, what I think is that, hm, you should...you know...do that thing, and then, you get it..." Syphus snapped his fingers, having thought of something "You should think it twice. Annie, if something happened to you it'd be a big loss for the village, and—"

Ananas rolled on the floor and kneeled, looking at Syphus with uncertainty. "What? What did you think I was going to do?"

"...show Cohen you're not weak? Maybe by, uh, picking a fight with the first monster you saw?"

"Why'd I do that?" Syphus' expression must have turned particularly severe, because Ananas looked away, contrite "I won't"

"Great. Have patience, Annie. Maybe when you're a bit older he'll let you be the guardian"

"I don't want to wait until I'm older. I'm eight, I can do it" she muttered quietly, pressing her teeth together "I'll keep training, he can't stop me from training"

"What kind of training do you do?"

"Push-ups! I need to be strong!" she said. Syphus stared at her, deadpan. She seemed to be entirely serious. Syphus nodded, trying not look dismissive. _Keep trying, Annie._

 **Ananas is determined to fulfill her goals**

 **The** **Ananas** **Social Link has reached Rank 3!**

 **Your power to create Personas of the** **Chariot** **Arcana has grown!**

"By the way...mister?" Ananas looked at the ground, her hand reflexively going to her hip, where her gun would usually be. "Thanks for talking with Cohen yesterday. Having someone who believes in me and doesn't think I'm a stupid child...it's nice. Thank you"

Syphus frowned. "That's what you think people think of you?"

"...yeah. What else would they think?"

 _...things are worse around here than I thought._ "Why don't I go talk with Cohen again?" the girl's expression got dark for a moment when Cohen was mentioned, she shrugged noncommittally.

"I don't care"

"You can't stay angry with him forever, he's one of us"

"Don't tell me what to do" Ananas spat. Seeing that merely mentioning Cohen was a sure way to get her upset again, Syphus decided to give it a rest for the time being. After helping Ananas stand up from the ground, she went to hang out with Graham, saying she was going to play with Monster Kid the next day. Syphus watched her go, mulling the fight he had witnessed not long ago. What were Cohen's true reasons to deny Ananas the chance to prove herself? _It must be a really good reason, if he's willing to go as far as hurting Annie so much_ he thought, walking towards the sentry point.

Cohen wasn't inside. He was standing outside of the hole on the wall he watched from, looking at his hands. He had taken off his worn gloves, and was now rubbing his knuckles, with pained expression. "Cohen" The old man looked in Syphus' direction, breathing deeply. He looked...like he was feeling guilty.

"Good evening, Syphus. Had a good day?"

"I had a better day than somebody we both know"

The fingers of Cohen's left hand curled tightly around his knuckles. "So you heard us" he entered into the sentry hole, dragging his feet "Since you did, could you pass this to her?" after a few seconds he took out what seemed to be some sort of quilt.

"What's this?"

"An apology" Cohen muttered, trying to get Syphus to take the quilt. The piece stared at what Cohen was giving him, with an expression of mild disgust. Then he said rather slowly, trying not to sound as upset as he felt.

"Cohen. Do you really think a _quilt_ is going to fix everything?"

The old man was silent for a moment, then left the quilt aside. "No, this won't work. I'm sorry, that was stupid of me"

"You should apologize to her in person. Annie needs an apology"

Cohen started putting on his gloves back, trying hard not to look at Syphus to the face. "She won't accept an apology from me. I have hurt her way too many times already. It's too late for apologies" after a pause he glaced at him just for a moment. There was something in his eyes Syphus wasn't sure what it was. Regret? He hoped it was regret. "How is she?"

"She's very upset, don't ask stupid questions" Syphus said before he could control himself. Although he had mellowed a bit when he saw Cohen was upset, his anger at the old man was slowly returning "Cohen, have you realized how much you're making everyone hate you?"

"Of course I know! I'm not stupid, Syphus, I know it very well!" Cohen suddenly shouted in response, gesturing towards the village "I know that. There's not a single person in this village that likes me. And you know what? That's fine!"

"Why? Because you're protecting them, and it's good to be hated? Why?!" Syphus raised his voice, unable to understand just what Cohen was thinking. _Why is it so hard to understand someone?_

"Because I deserve it!" Cohen threw his hands in the air "I'm not a kind person, Syphus! I know I drive everyone away! I just..." he took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down "I'm not going to tell you some bullshit about being strict because I want to protect them. That's not true. I didn't want to be hated"

"Have you tried to make amends?"

"I'm eighty years old, it's too late to change" he went outside of the sentry station "It doesn't matter, but...you know what?" Syphus didn't reply. He was listening carefully, but stayed away from Cohen "I wish things weren't like that. These people...they're the only family I have now.

My former life over the surface was so long ago I don't even remember much of it. Instead I grew up with these people, and I saw almost all of them grow up. They're...they're like my family now. We're all the only family we have, all of us and Toriel" he sighed "Guess all families have someone who doesn't get along with the rest"

Syphus touched the quilt, examining it. It was a rather detailed work, Cohen had a lot of skill. "It's not too late to apologize"

"Maybe someday I will" Cohen shook his head "This is stupid. I'm not brave enough to apologize. How infantile of me"

 **You feel you understand Cohen's heart a bit more.**

 **The** **Cohen** **Social Link has reached Rank 3!**

 **Your power to create Personas of the** **Emperor** **Arcana has grown!**

At least Cohen knew he wasn't behaving like he should, and as far as Syphus was concerned, that was the first step towards a healthier relationship with everyone in the village. "...Cohen, please, be honest: why don't you want Annie to be the guardian?" Cohen pointedly avoided looking at him "Cohen!"

"I don't have to explain anything to you"

"Come on! Is it so bad you can't tell anyone?" _Why does everyone have to be so damn recalcitrant?!_

Cohen looked towards the stairs that led out of the village. "I'm tired, and I have to do my duty. Please leave me alone"

"But—"

"I'm not going to change my mind, Syphus. Leave" his face had tensed, it seemed whatever reason he had to deny Ananas the role was deeply ingrained into his feelings. Syphus tried again to convince Cohen to speak, but he refused to, not even bothering to say another word. Seeing it was useless to try to convince him, Syphus walked away towards the rest of the village, immersed in his thoughts.

The Hidden Village's morale was Cohen versus everyone else. There should be some way to convince him to try to mend his relationships with everyone, but how? The piece grimaced and entered Cohen's cabin, intending to spend the rest of the day trying to sharpen his halberd and try to solve the emotional puzzles that were all the Social Links he had gathered so far. Those in the village seemed the most important right now. As if the whole Persona thing wasn't enough, he had arrived to the Underground at a rather delicate moment of the village's life. If nothing was done to correct the matter, tensions could escalate even more, if that was possible.

The problem was that he didn't know if he could do something to help. He wasn't some sort of magic problem solver, and he never would be. Lucia had ingrained in Syphus one clear creed: 'A witch of Hope doesn't meddle in people's affairs. We're guides, like stars. All we do is point in a direction and encourage them to follow. What they do is completely up to them' If he was going to be Lucia's apprentice, then he had to follow that self-imposed rule. _How? How can I point them in a direction when I don't even know what's the right one?_

 **You're starting to grasp the delicate situations in the Hidden Village**

 **The** **Last Timeline** **Social Link has reached Rank 2!**

 **Your power to create Personas of the** **Aeon** **Arcana has grown!**

-ooooo-

During the night, a heavy feeling of foreboding settled on Waterfall, like it had happened before Frisk was found unconscious.

That hazy feeling was still around the next day.

* * *

 **SOCIAL LINKS:**

 **Fool - Frisk - RANK 4**

 **Magician - ? - RANK 0**

 **Priestess - Alphys - RANK 1**

 **Empress - Toriel - RANK 2**

 **Emperor - Cohen - RANK 3**

 **Hierophant - Ciruel - RANK 1**

 **Lovers - ? - RANK 0**

 **Chariot - Ananas - RANK 3**

 **Justice - ? - RANK 0**

 **Hermit - ? - RANK 0**

 **Fortune - ? - RANK 0**

 **Strength - ? - RANK 0**

 **Hanged Man - ? - RANK 0**

 **Death - Cornio - RANK 1**

 **Temperance - ? - RANK 0**

 **Devil - ? - RANK 0**

 **Tower - ? - RANK 0**

 **Star - Lucia - RANK 1**

 **Moon - ? - RANK 0**

 **Sun - Papyrus - RANK 2**

 **Judgment - ? - RANK 0**

 **Aeon - Syphus - RANK 2**

 **Jester - Alphonse - RANK 2**


	14. The Second Victim

The fifth day started with a heavy feeling of dread and hollowness over everyone in Waterfall. It was a while before Syphus had the energy to stand up and get ready to go all the way to Snowdin. Unlike the day before he didn't feel particularly excited about his new part-time job – _did my enthusiasm really last one single day?!_ – but soon he realized it wasn't a matter of enthusiasm. His actual sullen mood was much more than that. Everyone in the Hidden Village looked rather jumpy and wary, looking around with suspicion. Byssa passed by, walking so fast one would have thought her life depended on it. Grahan and Ciruel were talking in front of the communal cabin, making sure to not to say more than a few words in each sentence, and Celia was inside her cottage, or at least Syphus supposed that. Syphus didn't say a word to anyone, trying to fight that feeling of wanting to lie down on the ground and hope nothing bad happened, and started ascending towards the plateau in front of the way out of the village.

"Do you really have to go outside today?"

Cohen was right there in his sentry station, holding his head with both hands. Syphus clutched his brooch, tensing. "Uh, yeah, there's something I need to do outside..."

"...it'd be nice if you didn't leave today. Don't you feel it? There's something in the air _" Yeah, I feel it._ That feeling...Syphus was sure he had felt it very recently before, but he couldn't remember exactly in what situation, a feeling similar to suffocation like something was constantly pressing his chest.

"I can't stay in here just because of a feeling" Syphus uttered, ascending another stair. Cohen raised his head from his hands to argue and attempt convince Syphus to stay, but instead he let his head fall again into his palms, holding it as if he was in pain.

"...take care. You're an adult, you take care of yourself. I'll keep Annie from going out" he said. Syphus nodded and ascended to the tunnel, activating the brooch and walking towards Snowdin, making a SAVE point like he always did every morning. The bad feelings didn't vanish, not even when he left Waterfall and stepped on the cold grounds of this part of the Underground. All the residents of Snowdin who were going on their everyday lives seemed annoyingly cheerful to Syphus, who crossed the town, hunched over and not bothering to acknowledge anyone with anything further than a glance. When he entered Grillby's he went straight to the counter, barely waving at the red bird, and settled to receive instructions for the day. Grillby turned his head around, looking at Syphus with attention. The pub was mostly empty, most of the regulars not having arrived yet.

"...are you okay?" he inquired, leaving aside the glass he had been cleaning. Syphus took a deep breath, waving without energy.

"Yes, sir, I'm just feeling under the weather today"

"You're not used to the cold?" the bird asked "I heard someone say you live in Waterfall" _What? Has people been talking about me?_ That wasn't really a good sign. Had he been so obviously out-of-place people couldn't avoid talking him? He'd have preferred not to have people gossiping about him, but it seemed like it was too late to stop that. Syphus nodded, trying to end the conversation by asking Grillby what needed to be done today. Instead of answering and telling him his tasks for today, Grillby crossed his arms.

"...take the day off"

"What?"

"Grillby said you should take the day off. You don't look good, go rest" the bird said. Syphus looked intermittently at each one, unsure on how to take that. He really needed the gold, but could he work while having this horrendous sickening sensation? Syphus shuddered, deciding to take the offer. After thanking Grillby for his kindness, Syphus left the pub, sticking his hands as deep as possible in the pockets of his coat, looking at the snow of the road.

He felt like there was something he should be remembering, what was it? Why did he feel like whatever he was forgetting was so vital having forgotten it was the worst thing he could have done? Syphus wracked his mind, thinking back to the past days, but he couldn't recall what situation he had felt it into.

His foot sunk into a particularly soft patch of snow, almost making Syphus lose his balance. Once he was sure he wasn't going to plop down in middle of the road, he pulled from his leg with his hands, freeing himself. When he did that, he noticed one of his hands was leaking that black and viscous fluid Shadows were made of, seeping through the green scales of his hand. The scarce white feathers on the back of his hand were literally melting away into oil, ink, or something resembling tar. _Again?!_ Why was this happening to him? Was he falling apart, what was going on? Drops of ink plopped heavily in the snow, sinking out of sight. Syphus mumbled something under his breath, using his other hand to try to keep the ink from flowing.

"Yo!"

A familiar voice sounded near him. Syphus hurried to put his dripping hand deep into his pocket and turned around, hoping no other parts of his body would start melting too. Monster Kid was running towards him, falling into the snow once he was close enough. The kid stood up before Syphus could offer to help him, and grinned blithely. Syphus waved with his undamaged claws. "Good morning, kid"

"Are you going to Waterfall, mister? Me too! Let's go together! Annie is waiting for me"

Ah, right. Hadn't Ananas said something about playing with Monster Kid today? Judging by what Cohen had said, that plan was doomed not to happen anymore. No way Cohen would let her go out of the village. "I heard she's not going to leave her house today" Syphus said flatly, continuing his way towards Waterfall. That statement didn't deter Monster Kid at all, thought, he caught up with Syphus almost immediately, as if he hadn't said anything. Syphus didn't make any physical effort to stop him from following.

"Hey, you know what? I haven't seen Annie's house. Can you take me there?"

 _I'd rather not._ No way that'd end well. "I'm not sure that's a good idea. I have heard Annie's parents are _very_ strict, they wouldn't be happy" Monster Kid didn't seem bothered at all about the perspective of strict parents, though. He managed to shrug and hurried ahead, having ignored Syphus' protest. Telling the child to not to go hadn't worked, and unless Syphus physically grabbed him and dragged him all the way to Snowdin – something he didn't want to do out of respect to Monster Kid and because he feared his hands were still melting – it seemed the only option was to try to lose the kid at some point. How hard could that be?

Ten minutes later he decided it was much easier said than done. Monster Kid had boundless energy and kept running ahead, talking loudly and not paying much attention to the lack of monsters along the way nor the disquietingly cold air. From time to time, ethereal balls of light traversed through the emptiness, the only comfort to the otherwise unnatural state of Waterfall.

After an attempt of losing the kid by straying behind and hiding in another corridor – somehow Monster Kid found him pretty much immediately – Syphus gave at trying to lose him, feeling too dispirited to try. While the oppressive feeling of constriction was gone and it didn't seem like he was melting anymore, he still didn't feel any energy besides the necessary to walk. "Yo, are you okay?" He must have looked rather bad, because Monster Kid returned and asked that question, toning down the enthusiasm for a moment.

"...sorry, I must be coming down with something" Syphus responded. Then, after a moment of doubt, he inquired: "How can you be so chipper? You don't feel sick?"

Monster Kid wrapped his tail around himself, shuddering a bit at the coldness of Waterfall. "It's nothing bad. No big deal" Syphus narrowed his eyes a bit, unconvinced "Don't look at me like that! It's true, I'm okay"

"If you don't feel well you should return to Snowdin" the piece said patiently, huddling a bit further into his coat.

"No, Annie says that when one doesn't feel well one should keep going. I believe in that"

Syphus resumed walking. "...you put that much stock in what she says?" Monster Kid didn't reply, instead looking at Syphus as if he had talked in riddles. _...right, I should phrase it in a simpler way_ "You believe what she says?"

"Of course I do! Friends believe each other, right? And she's my best friend" Monster Kid once again ran ahead, he continued talking by raising his voice enough for Syphus to listen despite the distance "You know how we met?"

That was a chance to know a bit more about Ananas, chance Syphus intended to take. It was possible this was something she shouldn't tell, but if Monster Kid was going to spill the beans then Syphus wasn't going to object. "No. How did it happen?"

Monster Kid slowed down a bit, looking upwards. "I was exploring Waterfall and trying to find Undyne's house, but I got lost after that one patch of grass, you know which one. I thought I was going to be lost forever! But then I turned the corner and I found her"

"Was she happy to see you?"

The kid laughed with a bit of disbelief. "No, dude! She aimed that gun at me. She was shaking like a leaf! And I wasn't any better, I thought I was going to scream, but then I said 'Yo! I-I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you!' I was ready to run, but before I could move...

...she put the gun away and apologized. She said it was her first time exploring Waterfall, so we started walking together. She told me many things about her, and I tried to take her to see Undyne, but she refused. I think she was...scared?"

 _...no surprise there._ Going to see Undyne would have been the worst mistake any human could do, except Frisk...maybe. Monster Kid, unaware of how Syphus' expression had turned grave, continued talking. "I told her there was nothing to be scared of, that Undyne was so cool and she'd love to meet her, but Annie didn't want to keep going"

"...do you know why?"

"Nope. I dunno. But it must be really bad if Annie was scared. She's not the type that gets scared easily!" Monster Kid slowed down, waiting for Syphus "Maybe Undyne intimidates her. But there's nothing to be scared of! Undyne would never harm anyone. Only bad guys would be scared of her" what followed that was silence. Feeling he had said something wrong, Monster Kid chuckled nervously "What?"

"Nothing. I was just thinking something" Syphus looked away. A very uncomfortable pause replaced the conversation, the two walking with no more sound than their steps and the splashing of water around them.

After a few minutes of awkward journeying through Waterfall, Syphus noticed he was running out of time. He calculated they'd be arriving to the place Monster Kid and Ananas played often at, and he still had no idea how he could distract the child for enough time to run to the Hidden Village. He didn't have to think it through, because as soon as they passed nearby, they saw Ananas there. "What?!" Syphus exclaimed. _Cohen, why's she out here?!_ Monster Kid was delighted, though.

"Annie!"

Ananas turned around, her eyes widening with joy when she saw Monster Kid. She was wearing her western clothing, including her hat. "Howdy! And you—" Ananas shut up when she saw Syphus. She tensed, her hand going towards the holster, looking at him like she expected him to attack her at any moment. Monster Kid looked between them, realizing the danger.

"Wait, Annie! You don't have to fight! He's my friend" he said. She didn't lower her guard, though, she advanced a few steps, trying to suppress any fear she felt.

"State your i-intentions"

"...I mean no harm" Syphus said bluntly, glancing at Ananas' gun. She hadn't taken it out yet, that was a good sign, right? Ananas glared at him, but after a moment she took her hand off the holster.

"I'll have to request you to l-leave, mister, p-p-please"

"Why?" Monster Kid questioned "We can trust him!"

"No, it's fine. I'll leave" Syphus said. Better to go away while he had his monster illusion intact. After giving Ananas the most disdainful stare he could make, his face tensing and making him look like a viper about to strike, Syphus turned around and walked away quickly before Monster Kid could protest. With some luck he wouldn't follow him, now that he was with Ananas. Syphus turned around the corner, chose the closest hallway and walked to the end until he turned another corner, and deactivated the firefly brooch, showing his human form. Showing himself in this form to Monster Kid was risky, but what other option did he have if he wanted Ananas to come peacefully? The piece sighed and leaned against the wall, looking at the ceiling with helpless expression.

Ananas was out of the village. Somehow she had gotten past Cohen and gone outside. At least that meant Monster Kid wouldn't have followed Syphus to the Hidden Village, but in his opinion this was a worse situation. _Why do things have to go wrong in some way_? Cornio must have set up this scenario, that was likely. If that was true...

...what were Cornio and Sisyphus planning right now?

The only thing Syphus had clear was that leaving Ananas in the company of just one or two people may not be a good idea. Sans hadn't said much, but as far as Syphus knew, Frisk had been attacked when they had been isolated, even if it was for a few minutes. No, that couldn't be allowed to happen again. He had to take Ananas back to the village as soon as possible. Syphus coughed, his throat feeling like it was in a vice. _It'd be better if it didn't feel like Waterfall is going to crumble down on us at any moment!_

After smoothing over his track coat and hoping that neither Ananas or Monster Kid would notice the fact he was wearing the exact same clothing than the weird feathered snake monster who just left, Syphus backtracked to where he had left the children. They weren't there anymore, but Syphus could hear them a bit further away, most likely they had continued their way to the chamber where they usually played at. Syphus took a deep breath, creaked his neck and went in that direction, finding the children standing near one of the corridors, talking to each other mutedly.

"...go and play! There's no camera, I covered it in mud"

"But it wasn't there yesterday! What if the Royal Scientist found out...?"

Ananas put her hands on her hips, considering what Monster Kid had said. "...think she found out...?"

Syphus chose that moment to approach. "Annie, we need to return to the village" Ananas turned around, having recognized the voice, although judging by the way her shoulder slumped she wasn't happy to see him "This isn't a good day to go outside"

Monster Kid looked at them with curiosity. "Oh! So Syphus was right...you have strict parents!"

"You said Syphus? You knew him already—?"

" _Any_ ways..." Syphus quickly interrupted, stepping forward "Let's go, Annie" she didn't move towards Syphus, though. Instead she looked at the ground, her hat hiding her expression "Annie, I'm serious! We need to return"

"...why?" she asked, still looking at the ground.

"Because..." _Because I have a bad feeling and it's too cold out here?_ That wasn't going to work. "Because this isn't a good day to be outside. Please, Annie, we need to return..."

Ananas suddenly looked upwards, eyeing Syphus with suspicion. "Cohen sent you!"

"No one sent me! Please don't start with that. I'm serious, this isn't a good time to be outside" Ananas crossed her arms, skeptical, but at least she wasn't accusing him from conspiring with Cohen to keep her inside the village. Monster Kid shuffled around, embarrassed of being caught what seemed to him like a family dispute.

"Uh, yo, I...I think you should listen to him" he said "We'll play tomorrow" Ananas glanced at him before nodding.

"Yeah...I'll go with you, Syphus..."

"Excellent! Thanks, now let's—"

"...if you catch me!" Ananas suddenly grinned and turned around, running away towards the chambers and tunnels where Monster Kid and she liked to play in. Syphus didn't even react until she had run further than the corner. _...this has to be a bad joke. Tell me this is a joke!_ It was useless to mentally grumble and clench his fists, though, so Syphus set to pursue Ananas and try to catch her before too much time passed.

"Hey! Wait!" Monster Kid, not really knowing what to do, followed Syphus. When Syphus asked how many paths were ahead, he was told it all led to a single chamber, but that there were several tunnels left before arriving there. It wasn't like Ananas could get anywhere else, though. _So it's matter of time before I catch up to her!_ In his opinion, Ananas' dislike of Cohen had reached such intensity she simply couldn't bear to be near him, and this was no more than an attempt to delay the return to the village. While Syphus couldn't blame her for not wanting to see Cohen, he wished she didn't let such feelings lead her to danger.

"Catch meeeee~!" they could hear Ananas' voice echoing from further ahead. She wasn't slow at all! Although she had run away just a few seconds before Syphus, she had gotten so far away they couldn't hear her steps or the splashing she made when stepping into the many puddles in Waterfall. Monster Kid wasn't having any problems following Syphus, but it seemed to him that the child wanted nothing more than catch Ananas so he could go home.

Syphus had been so focused on pursuing Ananas he hadn't been paying much attention to where he was stepping. Suddenly, his foot hit a protruding rock in the path, getting stuck underneath. "W-Woah!" the piece fell like a sack of bricks on some puddles, soaking himself and getting winded.

"Are you okay?!" Monster Kid asked, getting to Syphus' side and offering him his tail to help stand up. Syphus didn't grab it, instead clutching his chest and gasping for breath.

"I-I...I'm okay...don't wait for—for me" he struggled to say, managing to sit on dry land "Ouch..."

"I-I'll get help!" Monster Kid tried to run in the opposite direction, but Syphus managed to grab the child's stripped shirt.

"Don't let Annie get away!"

Monster Kid hesitated, but after getting told again to hurry he ran towards where Ananas had gone, leaving Syphus trying to stand up. Ananas wasn't shouting anymore, but Monster Kid guessed she was going towards the chamber where they usually played at.

The tunnel bifurcated, both paths technically leading towards the same corridor, but the left path ended high on the wall, too high for him to descend onto the tunnel near the chamber. Not having any other option, Monster Kid went to the right, to the longer tunnel.

The path went further towards the right before doing a sharp turn, forming a straight corridor that'd need a minute or two to be traversed. Monster Kid ran through the completely dry path, getting to the end and turning to the left. He didn't notice the camera recording from a ledge at the end of the corridor, broadcasting everything through most of the tunnel.

"Annie!" Monster Kid called when he left that tunnel, getting closer to the chamber Ananas should be at. There was no reply. The air started to feel heavy, the former uncomfortable sensations growing stronger, making him feel like something horrible was happening or was about to happen. The drops of water falling from the ceiling seemed to have intensified in sound, and the air felt abnormally cold, breathing it was like shoving ice cubes down his windpipe. It all melded together to turn the formerly familiar Waterfall into an ominous and threatening place.

A big hole on the wall showed the place where the path from the left ended, too high for him to climb onto, and it was very unlikely Ananas had gone up there, too. "Annie!" Monster Kid shouted again, running faster and getting to the end, he turned to the right and entered the chamber right when somewhere in the corridor he had just ran through a strange sound like steel being scrapped against rock echoed. The child didn't pay attention to that, instead looking around the chamber. It was a rather large and round chamber, with many platforms and columns the children liked to climb and hide behind of, a veritable playground for them. Monster Kid quickly browsed the chamber, checking all the spots and places.

There was no one in there.

"...what...?" But Ananas could only have gone this way! If she wasn't here, then where did she go?

"Heeey! Did you find her?" Syphus' voice sounded in the distance. That snapped the child out of his stupefaction, immediately turning around and running back.

"She's not here! Annie is gone!" Monster Kid yelled back, trying not to sound as panicked as he felt. Syphus bellowed in alarm, the sound of his steps resonating in the elevated path. The piece stuck his head out of the large hole.

"What do you mean she isn't here? Where did she go?!"

"I don't know!" Monster Kid didn't understand anything, how had she vanished in thin air?! Syphus jumped off the hole, landing on her feet with a wince. He hadn't twisted or broken his ankle back then, but it was painful and uncomfortable.

"I didn't see her coming this way. Are you sure she isn't over there?" he asked, already stepping in direction of the chamber. Monster Kid didn't reply, instead running to the path he had come from. Ananas could have gone that way, couldn't she? It was the only option! "Where are you-?" Syphus tried to reach him, but as soon as Monster Kid turned the corner to the straight tunnel he screamed loudly, startling Syphus, and bolted forward so fast it was amazing he didn't trip and crash against the ground. Alarmed, Syphus followed him, but didn't have to go further than the corner to see why the child had been so terrified.

Ananas was lying unconscious in middle of the hallway, her cowboy hat having fallen to the floor. Monster Kid had gotten to her, managing to turn her on her back, and nudged her with his head. "Annie...Annie, wake up! You—you can't fall down yet! Annie!" he sounded on the verge of tears. The piece gasped and immediately got to Ananas' side, softly raising her head and checking for a pulse. She was alive, merely unconscious, but that was bad enough. Only Monster Kid and Syphus were in the area, as far as Syphus knew. Then who had...? "Y-Yo, is she okay?" Monster Kid struggled to keep the tears at bay, but he was far from a breakdown, thankfully.

"I think she's okay. I have to take her home now" If this was the same situation than Frisk went through, then he had to use the firefly brooch on her once she was at a safe place. With some luck he'd be able to put Ananas into her cabin without Cohen or anyone else realizing it. "I can carry her. I'll just—huh" Syphus frowned, having noticed something strange about Ananas.

Despite being on a completely dry tunnel, Ananas' front and back were damp. Only her boots and legs were dry and clean. Now that he thought about it, it could be a good idea to see if there were any clues about the attacker somewhere nearby. "Okay, this is what we'll do. I'll take her home...in a moment. First I want to check something. How many paths are in this area?"

"I—uh" Monster Kid quickly thought "Only two! This and the other one"

"Then the attacker must have gone through here or through the other tunnel. Let's see..." Syphus managed to lift Ananas, carefully holding her against his chest, with her head against his shoulder. She wasn't heavy, but he wasn't going to be able to carry her forever "The other tunnel is...what's that?" Syphus had looked upwards, seeing the ledge.

"What? What's what?"

"There's something up there" Syphus momentarily left Ananas on the ground before going to the wall, managing to lift himself enough to check on the ledge. "It's a camera!" A camera placed on that ledge would have recorded everything! Syphus stared at the object on top of the ledge for a moment before letting himself fall, dusting his hands off. Monster Kid asked about the camera, but Syphus ignored him, mulling what he had just seen, and picked Ananas up again "Let's go. This tunnel is shorter" he said, leaving Ananas in the hole on the wall. Monster Kid was too short to reach it, but someone of Syphus' height was able to, albeit with some effort. After getting Monster Kid up, the piece lifted himself up.

Indeed, that tunnel was shorter, and many parts of it were full of mud. The group hurried, walking through it with haste, but Syphus stayed alert in case there were any clues, and indeed, there was something: a very well-defined shoeprint on the mud, child-sized. It didn't match Ananas' boots, and a quick look at Monster Kid's feet it wasn't his, mainly because of the lack of shoes. Shaking his head, Syphus continued leading the way.

-ooooo-

Monster Kid cared a lot about his friends, and in other circumstances Syphus would have applauded that, but right now that was a hindrance. During the way from the tunnels to the hall where the crevice that hid the entrance to the Hidden Village's stairways Syphus tried his best to tell him to go back to Snowdin, but Monster Kid refused. "Annie is my friend, and I want to know if she's okay!" he had said every time Syphus had tried to convince him to go away "How's she? D-Did she fall down?"

"No. She's just asleep" Syphus slowed down, having seen the crevice in the distance. Having run out of time, Syphus sighed and looked at the child with severity. "You need to go back to Snowdin. Now"

"But—"

"I said _now_! I'll keep her safe" Syphus gently pushed Monster Kid on the back with his foot, nudging him away "I'm serious. Stay away" Monster Kid didn't look happy at all, but reluctantly obeyed, dragging his feet. Once the child was gone, Syphus descended into the crevice, holding Ananas tightly. _Everything'll be okay. Once I wake her up it'll be like nothing happened_. It was a good thing neither Sans nor Papyrus was nearby. Taking them to what would be Ananas' SOUL didn't seem like a good idea, despite their excellent attacks. Syphus descended the stairs towards the Hidden Village. If he could get to Ananas' cottage without being seen, he could avoid there being panic—

"Annie?!" _Damn it._

Cohen. Of course he was going to be in his sentry station. The old man got out of it so fast Syphus didn't have time to think of an excuse, and Cohen demanded an explanation immediately. "She got attacked. I found her not too far from here" Cohen's face acquired a nasty gray tone, and he took Ananas out of Syphus' arms, looking at the piece with suspicion. "H-Hey, I did nothing! I simply found her"

"If I find out you hurt Annie—"

"I said I did nothing!" Cohen looked at Syphus for a moment more before taking Ananas to her cottage, leaving her on the bed. Syphus followed him, looking to the ground with apologetic expression. Once the girl was on her bed, Syphus examined the frame of the door and asked: "How did she get out of the village? I thought you said you wouldn't let her out"

"She knows how to sneak out, that little brat..." Cohen said, although he sounded more worried than annoyed. He took off Ananas' hat, putting it aside "She seems okay...monsters didn't take her SOUL, or she wouldn't be alive. I don't get it, if she was attacked why wouldn't the attacker take her SOUL?"

"I don't know, I found her near where she used to play with" Syphus stepped away of the frame, looking at the few things in the cottage "She may have fell and hit her head" Cohen examined Ananas' head, finding nothing.

"Syphus, be honest: did you have anything to do with this?"

"No! Cohen, I would never harm Annie!"

"...I'll take your word for it" Cohen said in a tone that made obvious his lack of trust towards Syphus. For a moment Syphus saw in his mind the Emperor card that represented his bond with Cohen, it was trembling like it was going to reverse and indicate the link was going badly, but thankfully it stayed in its upright position. "You should leave. I'll stay here until she wakes up"

"Uh, alright..." _Damn it. I need to get Cohen out of here for just enough for me to put the brooch on her!_ Taking Cohen with him was something Syphus preferred to avoid. Doing the same mistake he had done with Sans and Papyrus would be the height of stupidity, in his opinion. But how to get Cohen outside? Syphus exited the cottage slowly, taking the brooch out of his pocket and turning it in his hands, when he heard a scream coming from the other side of the tiny village.

"A monster!" That sounded like Byssa. Syphus looked up, surprised. Had monsters found the village? Cohen exited the cottage, having heard the scream too, cursing under his breath. Syphus thought quickly and hid to the side of the cottage, listening.

"This can't be happening!" Cohen muttered before going towards where the scream had come from. Although Syphus felt a lot of curiosity regarding what monster had entered, Ananas seemed like a bigger priority. After making a SAVE point, just in case, Syphus opened the door of the girl's cottage and entered.

It was likely he wouldn't have long to act. Syphus opened Ananas' leather vest, placing the firefly brooch on the inside. He didn't want to find out if someone taking off the brooch while he was inside the SOUL would affect him, better to be safe than sorry. He had just managed to get the brooch's needle to pierce the tough leather when someone entered the cabin at full speed. Syphus turned his head around, startled and expecting to see Cohen.

It was Monster Kid. "You?!" Syphus screeched rather ungracefully. Monster Kid grinned sheepishly.

"Y-Yo, Syphus...didn't think you'd be here, eh?" Before Syphus could reply, they both heard noises of people approaching the cottage. Syphus yelped and pointed at the door, gritting his teeth, and thankfully Monster Kid didn't need to be told. The child closed the door with a kick and threw himself on it, holding it back the best he could. "What's going on? Are you—is Annie a human? Are you a human?"

"This isn't the time to talk about this! Hold the door!" it was rather unfortunate that Monster Kid had followed him to the village, and even more that he had found out everyone in there was a human. _Everyone shouting that a monster had arrived must have been what tipped him off_ Syphus guessed while he secured the brooch, making sure no one would see it from the outside. Someone hit the door, Monster Kid dug his heels on the rocky ground the best he could and tried to resist.

"Dude, I don't think I can—"

Leaving it up to a child to fend off a bunch of adult humans was something that wouldn't ever work. Monster Kid didn't even have time to complete the sentence before Cohen, Graham and Byssa all hit the door together, making the child propel forward towards Syphus. Syphus had just put his hand on the outside of the vest over where the firefly brooch was located when he noticed Monster Kid careening him. "No!" Syphus' hand pressed on the brooch, activating it, while he instinctively raised the other hand to keep Monster Kid from crashing against the piece's torso, making contact with Monster Kid's face right when the firefly brooch did what it was designed to do.

The three humans that barged into the cottage arrived just in time to see Syphus and Monster Kid fall unconscious. "...what's going on?!" Cohen exclaimed, not having expected that. Byssa hurried to pick up Monster Kid while Graham went to Syphus. The woman sighed in relief when she confirmed Monster Kid didn't seem to be injured.

"I think we could have handled the monster's presence much better" Graham loosened Syphus' jacket, faintly remembering first aid techniques he had once heard when he lived over the surface, and looked at Cohen "What do we do now?"

Cohen looked at the three unconscious people, greatly confused, his mouth ganging open a bit. Was this what that bad feeling from a couple hours ago was all about? The old man gulped, forcing himself to snap out of it. "We need to call Toriel. She'll know what to do"

"They're just a kid..." Byssa extended her arms, as if nobody had noticed how young the monster in her arms was.

"That's why she'll know what to do. This...uuuuuh..." was this monster male or female? Cohen wasn't sure "This monster will accept an explanation if it comes from the Queen"

"I'm sure there'll be a way to convince him not to tell anyone about us..." Graham stood up. He had managed to drag Syphus to the couch, leaving him there "Annie told me about this little guy"

"So that's what she sneaks away for..." Cohen directed Byssa to leave Monster Kid on the bed, beside Ananas. Although he didn't approve about Ananas exiting the village, he was glad she had managed to make a friend. That should make her days much more bearable. Cohen took out his cellphone from his pocket and started looking for Toriel's number.

The Queen would know what to do. For now, he decided he should keep an eye on the three unconscious people, just in case any of them woke up. After arranging Graham to bring food and Byssa to make sure no one else was going to enter the Hidden Village, Cohen dragged a rickety chair and sat on it with grave expression, watching over the three unconscious people, and initiated the call.


	15. Ananas' SOUL - Yellow SOUL

**One of life's greatest blessings is the freedom to pursue one's goals.**  
 **—Nyx Avatar, Persona 3**

* * *

"Mister human! Wake up! Don't fall down too, please!"

Syphus didn't open his eyes, still on the verge of unconsciousness, that voice sounded way too soft and garbled. Something sounded in the distance, it sounded like something had scuttled not too far away from here. Right immediately after that, something smacked the side of Syphus' face, completely waking him up. The piece barely had time to sit up before a small person tackled him, shouting with joy and relief. "What the..."

"I'm sorry! I thought you had fallen down like Annie, and Waterfall looks all weird and wrong, and when I turned around I hit you on the face with my tail – that was an accident, I'm sorry!" Monster Kid said in one tirade, sticking to Syphus' chest as if he was trying to burrow inside. Syphus softly pushed Monster Kid aside to stand up, stumbling ahead, disoriented.

"Waterfall? We are back in Waterfall?"

"There are bad monsters here! I tried to get help, but they attacked me! I almost couldn't get away from them!"

That made the remaining daze Syphus felt vanish immediately. Bad monsters attacking a child? Syphus immediately got on guard, hearing the sounds getting closer. Monster Kid was right; they were back in Waterfall. The blue environment was unmistakable. _We're in Annie's SOUL, right?_ If it was similar to what happened to Frisk, then Waterfall was a significant place for Ananas. What kind of Shadows could her SOUL be filled with? Judging by the sounds, he was going to find out now.

Those were only two Shadows, but they weren't simple Mayas. Syphus recognized the Idol type he had fought once in Frisk's SOUL – although the version he was seeing now looked different - but the other one was completely new for him. It looked like some kind of morbidly bloated mobster, with a very large hole in the center of its body, holding a key inside. "Kid...get back" Syphus pointed behind him, to the back of the small room they were at.

"Dude, what are you-?"

"Now!" Syphus shouted, taking out the halberd from his jacket and extending the pole. He really hoped the Shadows would focus on him and not on the potentially defenseless child. Thankfully, Monster Kid realized the obvious danger and ran to the back, leaving Syphus to deal with the Shadows. "Ouroboros!" Syphus summoned the first Persona he could think of, the by-now familiar shape of the empty hood and robe forming immediately. As soon as Ouroboros was there, Syphus jumped forward to start attacking, focusing on the Liberating Idol first.

The Idol was rather slow, but it was positioned on top of a large pedestal. The Idol leaned towards its back, lifting the edge of the pedestal and blocking the halberd's swing with it. A loud clank echoed through the chamber, Syphus grit his teeth, feeling the vibrations of the clash of his weapon against the pedestal. "Damn it!" Syphus muttered, stepping back and mentally using his Persona to attack the Fuzz.

The ice spell Syphus used through Ouroboros hit the Fuzz, but it wasn't affected at all by the ice. Instead the spell bounced off it, hitting Ouroboros back and affecting Syphus. The sudden coldness that enveloped him made Syphus hunch over and step back, getting away from the Idol he had been attacking. Seeing that using ice spells against the Fuzz wasn't going to work, Syphus decided to reverse the strategy, try to attack the Fuzz with the halberd and use the Persona against the Idol.

That showed to be far more effective. The Fuzz raised its revolver, aiming at Syphus, chance the piece used to attack with the halberd to its hand and try to disable it and avoid any chance of being attacked. He swung the halberd, aiming to the hand, and managed to hit the revolver before the Fuzz had a fire. The bullet-like projectile that'd have harmed Syphus crashed against the ground, splattering tiny rocks, while Syphus tried to focus and direct Ouroboros to attack the Idol with Bufu ice spells.

It was extremely difficult to try to attack two targets at once, despite using a Persona. The problem wasn't controlling the Persona, or trying to stay out of the way of harm, the problem was that he wasn't trained yet to be able to focus both in his physical attacks with the halberd and anything he did with the Persona. Attacking one single target with both was no problem, but having to decide what to do with the Persona – often out of his sight, as the Fuzz and the Idol had gone to opposite sides of the room – while at the same time attempting to kill the Fuzz was exhausting. Even though the Shadows he was fighting were rather slow and the Idol had no strength at all to harm, he was finding himself evenly matched. It was just matter of time before any of the Shadows did something that could potentially tilt the tables to their favor.

And it happened when Syphus focused too much on dodging the Fuzz's bullets and accidentally left Ouroboros unattended for a moment. The Persona vanished, Syphus having given no thought at all about what to do with Ouroboros, so the Idol approached Syphus without the piece noticing. It didn't have to get too close to him to use the only skills it had. Syphus barely had turned his head around, having felt the Liberating Idol approaching, when that Shadow screeched and raised its arms high, a strange symbol appearing in the air.

The effects were immediate. Syphus literally started seeing red, everything was tinted with a crimson shade. Monster Kid, huddled as far away as possible, saw no difference in the environment, he just saw Syphus gripping the halberd so tightly its bamboo handle creaked under his fingers. Syphus' breathing accelerated while an unbridled fury took over him, all thoughts about his Persona sealed away. He didn't care about that, all he wanted was beat up the Shadows and kill them, nothing else mattered, not even his personal safety or any thoughts about strategies or attempts to be clever. With a cry of rage, Syphus raised his halberd and sprinted towards the Idol while the Persistent Fuzz behind him raised its revolver and shot.

Syphus completely ignored the projectile that flew mere inches aside of his head, focused on attempting to kill the Idol. He jumped onto the Idol's pedestal, climbing onto it with ease and getting very close to the Shadow, who tried to shove him off. Syphus grit his teeth and shoved the spike of the halberd right on the Idol's torso, and kicked it as strong as he could, making the pedestal tilt and giving him the chance to raise the weapon to deliver the final blow. Another bullet passed way too close by, this time hitting the halberd blade and knocking the weapon out of Syphus' hands, but he didn't try to pick it up, instead pounding the Idol on its masked face over and over with his bare fists.

It wasn't long before the Idol's health was completely depleted. The Idol faded away in a black cloud, Syphus falling onto the floor and half-consciously picking up the halberd to focus on the Shadow that was left. The Fuzz stepped back instinctually, shooting again while Syphus ran as fast as possible towards it, intending to swing the halberd blade onto the side of the Fuzz's large body, and leaving himself wide open for any attacks.

The next bullet hit Syphus right under his ribcage, but all he felt was a dull pain that didn't seem as grave as it actually was. Syphus swung the halberd, cutting deep into the Fuzz despite the lack of sharpness, and tackled it to the ground, grabbing the Shadow's clothing and managing to make it lie down on the ground for the enough time for him to raise the halberd and jam the spike right in the Shadow's face, ending the fight.

Monster Kid had watched the fight without saying a word, huddling against the wall and trying to not be noticed. It had been a short fight, just a minute or two of fighting, but he didn't understand anything of what he just saw. Those...human-like beings had attacked them, and Syphus had fought, but what was that...that thing that had appeared out of nowhere? And the amount of anger and deranged fury Syphus had while fighting...was that how Syphus really was, or was it all the effect of that weird symbol one of the foes showed that one time? Monster Kid didn't move, seeing Syphus breathing heavily, leaning on his halberd and staring at the ground where the Fuzz had been at.

Slowly, Syphus calmed down, the effect of the Idol's attack finally vanishing. He rubbed his face with his hand, starting to feel the pain from where the Fuzz's bullet had hit him. He doubled over, using the halberd to support himself, but refrained from shouting despite the intense pain he was feeling. Trying not to move too much to not to increase the pain, Syphus turned his head towards Monster Kid. "He-Hey...do me a favor and—" Syphus almost groaned, feeling a bit dizzy. After taking a moment to recover he pointed in the distance with his thumb "Do me a f-f-favor and check if the coast is clear..." Monster Kid didn't move. Syphus straightened up a bit, feeling ripples of pain from his wound "What's—what's wrong?"

"...what happened? What was all that?"

Syphus looked away. "I'll explain it to you in a moment" _Kinda_ "Just do that...please" he begged, feeling his eyes involuntarily filling with tears. Monster Kid reluctantly stood up and advanced, looking at Syphus with wide eyes. He wanted to approach, see if Syphus was okay, ask what was all that about humans and how it was possible there were so many humans Underground, but honestly...

...he was afraid of Syphus right now. He feared that without warning Syphus would raise that halberd and try to hit him, and for that reason the child made sure to keep his distance when crossing the room, always looking at Syphus. Once Monster Kid was far enough, Syphus finally allowed himself to double over, almost falling to the floor, and mouthed breathlessly " _HOLY SHIT_!" Syphus opened his track jacket and touched the spot where he had been hurt, not daring to look. There was no blood nor gore, but he didn't like how that spot felt. "...what did I get myself into...?"

This wasn't going to work well. Just fighting two common Shadows that didn't even seem to be notably strong had been tiring enough, and Shadows seldom were alone unless it was rather powerful. How was he supposed to deal with any foes? Coming alone was a bad move, and now he realized it. He should have took his chances with the skeletons, somehow. Gritting his teeth, Syphus closed his eyes and tried to focus to LOAD and return to the moment Cohen had left the cottage, but nothing happened. _Damn it, no!_ True, he couldn't SAVE or LOAD while in a SOUL, the only way to LOAD would be...it'd be to die. "No, I'm not going to die..." Syphus murmured, changing Personas and looking for Silky. It was fortunate he had a Persona he could use to heal himself, or the situation would look even worse than it already did.

-ooooo-

Fools can be immensely lucky. While it was true the Shadows were driving Syphus to the edge of his skills, he soon received respite. After a particularly easy fight against five Merciless Mayas at once – vulnerable to three types of magic? How couldn't it be easy? – Syphus managed to acquire another Persona. _Titan?_ It seemed rather strong, towering half a meter over Syphus and looking like an ancient gladiator, but the size wasn't what Syphus was relieved about the most: he finally had the possibility of hitting more than one target at once with electricity magic. Having acquired Titan, the journey through the labyrinth that was this version of Waterfall wasn't as troublesome as before.

It didn't mean everything was going well, though. Monster Kid refused to approach Syphus. The piece had been rather patient, talking to Monster Kid without raising his voice and telling him to stay behind every time a Shadow was seen, trying his best to protect the child. Sometimes Syphus tried to thaw the ice between them, but Monster Kid either didn't reply or mumbled one-syllable answers.

"Hey, can you pass me that?" Syphus requested, pointing at a few rock-like objects that fell from recently defeated Shadows. Monster Kid didn't move; he was trying his hardest not to look at Syphus. The piece furrowed his brow, a tad frustrated, but didn't take it out in the child. Instead he stopped walking, deciding to get done with this once and for all. "Okay, what's going on?"

"I...dude, what do you mean?" Monster Kid refused to look at Syphus.

"You have been acting strange all this time. Are you scared of this place?"

When Syphus said 'scared', Monster Kid turned his head around rather quickly, looking at Syphus in shock for a moment. "No! I'm not scared of this place. It's like Waterfall, just...larger and strange..."

"It's okay if you're scared. You're here with me, you'll be okay" Syphus said softly, but Monster Kid didn't reply. Syphus started moving his halberd to the other hand, intending to flex his stiff fingers, talking while doing it "You can trust m—"

"I'm sorry!" Monster Kid suddenly shouted, stepping back so quickly his back slammed against the wall "Please don't hurt me! I don't want to be hurt!" The child's shouting cut off Syphus' attempt to calm him down, shutting him into silence. _What...?_ Syphus noticed that Monster Kid was staring at the halberd. His mind quickly made the connection. If Monster Kid was scared of the halberd, after everything Syphus had done with it, after how Syphus had fought against the Shadows, wouldn't that mean he was scared of him? _...oh._

Syphus slowly left the halberd against the wall, near enough so he'd have time to grab it if a Shadow attacked, but far enough for Monster Kid to see the meaning of the gesture. After showing his hands were empty, Syphus crouched, getting on eye level with the child. "I'm not going to hurt you. Why are you scared of me?"

"I..." What Syphus fought like wasn't how a hero would do that, like what Undyne or anyone in the Royal Guard would behave, that was what Monster Kid thought "I don't get what's going on! What are those monsters, why are they attacking us, how can you kill them like that?!"

"Those aren't monsters; they want to kill us!" _What can I say, that the Shadows are representations of emotions and feelings?_ There had to be an easier way to explain it, but Syphus didn't know what it'd be like "They're the kind of bad guys Undyne would fight, and if we do nothing, we're going to _die_ here" The mention of Undyne and the risk of death seemed to have helped a bit. Monster Kid was still fearful, staying on the other side of the tunnel, but at least he didn't look like he was about to run away at the slightest provocation. Hoping there had been progress, Syphus tried to give his voice a conciliatory tone "I'm not going to hurt you. I want nothing more than to help you and get out of this place. Don't be scared of me, I'm your friend"

Monster Kid didn't seem completely convinced Syphus was honest about not wanting to hurt him, but something about the way Syphus said it resonated in him. Slowly, Monster Kid started approaching. "...promise you won't hurt me?"

"I promise. Cross my heart and hope to die" Syphus vowed. Monster Kid nodded reluctantly, kicking up in the air one of the stones Syphus had indicated him earlier and catching it with his teeth before leaving it in Syphus' hand. Taking that as a sign the child had agreed to give him a chance, Syphus put the stone in his pocket and smiled weakly. "I also promise you I'll return you back home safe and sound. You can trust me on that too! Just stay close to me and I'll protect you from anything that comes"

"Do you know where to go?" Monster Kid's eyes brightened up.

"...no, I don't have the slightest idea" he admitted sheepishly "But not all lost! You know Waterfall better than I do. If you see something that looks familiar, tell me and we'll see what we do" Syphus extended his hand as if he expected a handshake "Deal?"

After a pause, Monster Kid grinned and headbutted Syphus' hand. "Deal" In that moment, something sounded not too far away in the tunnel. Syphus immediately grabbed his halberd, getting his guard up and peering deep into the corridor. A group of fearsome Shadows was blocking the way. One of those beetle Shadows that repelled Physical attacks, a very large knight on a sinister horse, and a strange tall thing that looked like a wizard in pajamas started approaching. _Enough rest, time to fight._ "Step back! I'll take care of this in a second" Syphus said, selecting one of the Personas he had fused a couple days before, and sounding way more confident than he actually felt.

Monster Kid ran to a safe distance, staying alert in case any Shadows tried to sneak from the back. Maybe that Syphus human wasn't so bad. Monster Kid still wasn't sure what to think, but at least he did feel like Syphus meant it when he said he'd help him.

He was willing to give Syphus a chance, at least.

-ooooo-

Syphus was fed up about being on the brink of death so often.

It was bad enough that doing physical moves with the Personas cut through his health like hot butter. He also didn't need to be almost skewered by a stupidly large lance, yet it happened. If it hadn't been because that Persona Obariyon's physical attack had the chance of disabling the skills of the Shadows, he'd have suffered a horrible death right in front of Monster Kid. The strange-looking bright orange imp that emerged from Syphus' SOUL shot several bright and small arrows at the Shadows' faces, silencing them, before Syphus jumped forward and cleaved them with the halberd.

But Syphus managed to survive, if only barely. Once the fight was over, Syphus flopped to the floor and stared at the ceiling for a second before healing himself. "I'm never coming here alone ever again" Monster Kid offered to help fighting, but Syphus immediately rejected that idea "You'll stay back and let me deal with this by myself" Despite what he was saying aloud, there was no way he'd let Monster Kid put himself in danger. It was true Syphus needed a partner to fight with – or a team, hopefully – but he wasn't going to stand aside and let a child fight and risk their life. Thankfully, Monster Kid didn't try to convince him to let him help.

At one point during the walk, Monster Kid suddenly ran ahead, shouting. "Yo! I think I recognize this place!"

"Really?" About time! Maybe now they'd be able to find Ananas!

"There's a sentry station near here! Look, it's there!" the child got ahead, jumping on the counter and getting on the other side, disappearing underneath the table "It's almost empty. I don't think anyone stands back here"

"That's not unexpected. We're the only ones in this place, besides Annie"

Monster Kid left a few bottles of sauce on the counter, picking them with his mouth. "I think this is Sans' station" he mumbled, his voice garbled because of how he held the bottle.

"You know Sans?"

"Everybody knows Sans!"

 _And if this is Sans' station..._ It did help to know in which area of Waterfall they were at, at least "Great work! Okay, this is the plan: we need to get to the village"

"You mean Snowdin?"

"No, the human village. That's where Annie must be. Think you can take us to your playground? I'll lead the way from there" Monster Kid nodded, jumped back on the path, and started leading the way towards where he was sure where he often played with Annie was. The walk didn't last for long, though.

There was a very large lake that wasn't supposed to be there, filled with bright light blue water. It extended into the distance, filling the flooded corridors and littered with water sausages and tall grass. "Uh-oh. I didn't know this was here..." Monster Kid tried to see if he could see anything under the surface, but the water was so bright he could see nothing.

"How odd..." _So the SOUL isn't completely similar to the place it's based on?_ With some luck that didn't mean the place the village was located at had changed, but by now Syphus had learned not to rely on luck and hope "We need to cross this lake. It'd take too long to look for another way to the other side"

"Yo! Why don't we make a boat?"

"We don't have anything to make a boat, all we have here is swamp plants and—" Monster Kid didn't bother to finish listening to Syphus, he ran back to the sentry station. Syphus raised his eyebrows, pleasantly surprised "That could work!"

"Let's make a raft!"

It wasn't guaranteed to work, but it was better than doing nothing. Syphus returned to the sentry station and used his halberd to chop off one of the walls of the station, managing to separate it through brute force and without damaging the wood too much. He carried the wall and a thin beam to the water with some difficulty before slowly placing the wall on the surface, letting it go. The makeshift raft floated, but it didn't seem too stable. "...hm. Do you know to swim?"

"Uh...yeah. I'm no pro at swimming, but I can stay afloat" Monster Kid said without much enthusiasm, looking at the raft with doubt "Do we have to ride this...?"

"We should be fine as long as we stay away from the edges. Allow me" Syphus carefully helped Monster Kid get on the center of the raft. It sank a bit, but it popped back up without tilting to any side. "My turn..." _I wish I had learned how to swim._ If the raft capsized things were going to get very difficult. Praying that no Shadow would attack them while they were on the raft, Syphus slowly got on the raft, clinging to the improvised oar as if he feared it'd vanish in thin air. The raft sank for a moment, the water getting to Syphus' knees and submerging half of Monster Kid, but before any of them could panic the raft floated back to the surface.

It was a slow journey, but it was going well, Syphus managed to keep the raft going without submerging it every couple seconds. There were no signs of any Shadows nearby, too. Monster Kid sat down against Syphus' legs while the adult rowed, relaxing but ready to stand up if the raft started sinking again. "...so...you're human and Annie is human too" he said after a while.

"Yes. What about it?"

Monster Kid didn't reply for a moment, but when he did he sounded rather disheartened. "The Royal Guard...would they try to harm Annie? I know Undyne wouldn't, but what about everyone else?"

"We have no way to know. I'm not a guard, kid, I'm just another human" Syphus shook the beam, having gotten grass on it "But she should stay away from other monsters, just in case" That didn't seem to be the answer Monster Kid had hoped for. He curled up, his knees touching his face, and stayed silent for quite a while before starting talking again:

"Annie once told me she wanted to explore the Underground, but she said she couldn't. I asked her if it was because of her parents told her not to, but she said...she said it was because she didn't want to leave them alone"

Syphus looked at Monster Kid. "She really said that?"

Monster Kid nodded "She said there were some in her family she didn't get along with, but that she didn't want to see them hurt. But you know what, yo? I think she's very scared" Monster Kid unburied his face from his knees "She doesn't want to hurt anyone, but she's human and...someday someone will try to hurt her and the other humans, right? I mean, we're supposed to hate humans, right?

I think she wants to fight, but at the same time she wants to run away. Weird, right?"

"It's not weird. Many would want to do the same" Syphus said quietly.

"So one day I told her 'Hey, you know what'd be cool? If we could both be in the Royal Guard!' and Annie made this face" Monster Kid proceeded to demonstrate Ananas' expression. It showed fear "I don't want to hate Annie. She's my friend! I don't want to hate her because she's human and her SOUL is needed for something"

"Tell her that next time you see her"

"No! She'd laugh at me. But you know what? I'll help her. I'm going to help her be strong and nobody will be able to defeat her"

"Not even Undyne?"

Monster Kid lightly hit Syphus' legs with the back of his head. "I don't know! But she'll be able to do it, because you know what? Annie doesn't give up. I bet if Undyne arrived one day and attacked, Annie would fight her" he smiled dreamily "And not even I know who'd win. Cool, huh?"

 **Through Monster Kid's words you feel you understand Ananas a bit more.**

 **The Ananas Social Link has reached Rank 4!**

 **Your power to create Personas of the Chariot Arcana has grown!**

It was nice that Monster Kid had such faith in Ananas' strength and skills, but Syphus had doubts about it. If she tried to fight...that'd almost certainly lead to her death. A stray Muttering Tiara floated by, impacting Syphus with fire magic, but he mostly shrugged it off thanks to Obariyon's resistances. "Has Annie said something about learning to fight?" Syphus asked while Obariyon punched the Shadow, making it puff away, while he simply continued rowing.

"Learning to fight? Uh, sometimes we fight" Monster Kid warily eyed the Persona, glad it was vanishing. It creeped him out, honestly. "She's strong" Syphus took it like Monster Kid didn't know. The more the piece heard about Ananas' wish to be stronger and protect the village, the more concerned he grew. Everyone had a limit, especially children. If Ananas was pushed far enough, she could do something irrational and stupid. I really need to talk to her once this is done. Even if she denied she had thought of doing it, he needed to make clear that trying to 'prove herself' or anythng similar to was a terrible idea.

The fact that all Shadows encountered so far had references to fighting and stubbornness in their names didn't help assuage his fears. Brave Wheel, Champion Knight, Adamant Beetle, Conviction Sword...if the Shadows in Ananas' SOUL represented what she felt then she certainly was on the brink of a mistake that could prove fatal to her.

-ooooo-

It seemed the flooded tunnels were the only big change this Waterfall had. Once they managed to cross to the other side of the lake and left the unstable raft behind, Monster Kid claimed this place was completely familiar to him. "That's the way to Snowdin" he had said, looking into the distance. Shadows roamed not too far away "Uh...we shouldn't go over there"

"If that's the way to Snowdin then the way to the Hidden Village would be – whoa!" Syphus had peered into another tunnel but jumped aside at the last second, a Brave Wheel almost running him over, trails of fire emanating from its head.

The surreal living wheel with the head of a lion spun in circles, leaving tracks on the rocky floor, and focused on Monster Kid. The child yelped and jumped away when the Wheel revved in his direction and crashed against the wall, pieces of rock falling from the place of impact. "Over there, kid!" Syphus pointed towards the corridor the Wheel had come from, while Ouroboros formed in the air. The Wheel immediately aimed towards Ouroboros, starting to go in circles around it with increasing speed. _Is that an attack?_ He didn't intend to find out, though. Ouroboros was dispelled right when in the center of the circle erupted a burst of energy, reaching the ceiling, leaving a crater right where Ouroboros had been floating over just a moment ago. Confused, the Wheel slowed down, moment Syphus took to attack, Ouroboros emerging from him again.

Before the Wheel could react, a large purple sigil appeared over it, making the Shadow glow before dying immediately.

"Wooow..." Monster Kid's head peeked from the corridor he had run into "That was fast..."

"Darkness attacks. Looks like it can make some Shadows die in an instant" It was convenient, although not guaranteed to work. It was the last attack Ouroboros could learn, that Persona had reached its limit regarding abilities. "Shadows are getting more violent...we must be near Annie"

"C-Could Annie be attacked by one of those things?"

Syphus shook his head, trying not to think about how she'd fare against a Shadow. "Maybe. Come on, let's hurry" the Hidden Village was not too far from the place they were at, he knew it. And indeed, it took them just a few minutes to find the crevice where the way to the Hidden Village was away from the sight of those who passed by. Syphus jumped into the crevice without hesitation, but Monster Kid was more reluctant. "What's wrong?"

"...I don't think I should go. Nobody seemed to be happy to see me"

"That's because everyone was afraid you'd tell someone about the Village. Nobody was going to hurt you"

"Really?" he didn't seem convinced. Syphus returned up and put his hand on top of Monster Kid's head in what he hoped was a comforting gesture.

"Listen, it's true nobody was jumping with joy about you being there, but I can tell you no one would hurt you. Annie wouldn't allow it, I wouldn't allow it, and no human is going to let it happen. Trust me on that, I know what I'm talking about"

Monster Kid didn't move to get Syphus' hand off his head, instead looking at the ground with hesitant expression. "Mom once brought a book of history, and it said...it said human SOULs didn't need hope or compassion to exist" _What kind of history book would say something like that?!_

"Humans _do_ have hope, love and compassion. It's just that...there are other things too" The existence of Shadows and Shadow Selves gave credence to such thought, at least. Would a monster's SOUL be any different? It was possible he'd find out sooner or later "Let's go. Be careful, we don't know what could be waiting in here"

The tunnel towards the Hidden Village was completely devoid of Shadows. Once Monster Kid and Syphus stood up at the end, on the plateau where the village could be seen from, they tried to see any signs of activity. It didn't seem like there was anything, all the lights of the cottages were turned off. They couldn't just walk away, though. They needed to check if Ananas was there. _Where else would she be, really?_ The few minutes that it took to reach the village itself were uneventful, with no Shadow in sight. The cottages looked completely intact and normal, except for the lack of lights in their windows. Now that Syphus thought about it, he hadn't seen the cottages with no light at all before. During the nights the lights dimmed, but never went out. "Mister? Why are you staring at the window like that?" Monster Kid asked, standing on the tip of his toes to look inside.

"N-No, I just was thinking of something" he said, trying to ignore how nervous he felt "Let's take a look inside" Syphus opened the door of the cabin, peering inside. It was almost pitch black; no sound came from inside. "Annie?"

"I can't see her..."

"I don't think she's in this one. Let's go to the next. Keep your eyes open, kid" Syphus closed the door and started ascending the stairs to the upper area of the village. Monster Kid looked down at the floor before hurrying to reach Syphus.

"Why don't we call for her? She should hear us"

"Shadows could hear us too. We need to be careful" Ananas wasn't in the second cabin either, and it was just as dark as the first. Syphus was about to get to the third when Monster Kid bumped his head onto him, getting his attention.

"Yo, the ground feels weird" Monster Kid looked at the floor again. Now he had no doubts, it hadn't been his imagination before "It's vibrating?"

"Vibrating?" Syphus crouched and placed his hand on the ground. Indeed, it felt like the ground was moving very slightly, he could feel vibrations in his hand. _...I don't like this._ For the ground to vibrate like this something very heavy or large would have to be walking around nearby. Syphus looked around. There was nothing besides the buildings. _Can Shadows turn invisible now?_ Could they? Because there was no Shadow nearby! Just in case, Syphus prepared his halberd and mentally selected Ouroboros as his actual Persona "Stay alert. There could be something nearby"

Monster Kid and Syphus hurried to check the other cabins, not finding Ananas in any of them. _Where is she? She was supposed to be here!_ If she wasn't in the Hidden Village, where else could she be? Waterfall was a very large place, and the fact her SOUL had emulated it and turned the place into more of a labyrinth than it already was didn't help at all. At some point Monster Kid notified Syphus the vibrations had stopped. "I can't feel them anymore" he said, patting the ground with a foot.

"She's not here. I can't believe she's not here!" Syphus looked around as if he hoped Ananas was hiding nearby.

"Yo! We haven't checked there!" Monster Kid looked at the Communal Building, the two-story cottage that housed a stage and a warehouse "We need to see inside"

"...yeah, I guess you're right" Syphus conceded. Monster Kid, hoping Ananas was there and they could all get out from the foreboding location they were all at, got ahead and hurried to the door, despite Syphus' warnings. The child went inside, walking slowly to not to trip with anything in the darkness and calling for Ananas. "I told you not to get ahead—"

A sudden scream of surprise emerged from inside the building right before Syphus could cross the doorway. Monster Kid ran out of the building as fast as he could, shouting: "There's something there! Something _huge_!"

"Huge?!" _The shaking ground_... A horrifically loud noise reverberated inside the building. A cannonball of considerable size destroyed the wooden walls above the door, shattering the planks as if it all was made of balsa wood. "Watch out!" Syphus turned around and started running towards the back of the village, looking over his head and with Monster Kid to his side. Something was pushing from behind the wall, something as large as the building itself. The wood creaked, making a lot of noise, until it all broke and the Shadow that had invaded this area of Ananas' SOUL showed itself. _What's that?!_

It was one of the most bizarre Shadows Syphus had seen so far, a literal building on legs. A fortress over a miniature mountain towered over Syphus and Monster Kid, standing on two thick elephant legs. They could see cannons through the windows of the fortress that was the Shadow, all of the cannons aiming at them. The mask that denoted the arcana of the Shadow was on the highest part of the fortress, did it work as the eyes of the Shadow? It didn't really matter. What mattered was that the Shadow was approaching, and surely what it lacked in speed was compensated in attack power. "...get back. Run away. I'm going to take care of this" Syphus said, raising the halberd.

"It's going to hurt you! L-look at that, it's a castle!"

"Get out!" There was no time for hesitation. Syphus immediately summoned his Persona Ouroboros, trying to use a Darkness spell like he had done to the Wheel Shadow from earlier. The purple sigil appeared on one of the walls of the fortress, but nothing happened. "Damn it! What's that thing?!" Syphus shouted to the air, hoping that'd be enough to get information from the female voice that did the analysis.

The shout got the Shadow's full attention. One of the cannons extended more, aiming towards Syphus, and fired a cannonball towards him. Syphus jumped back, the cannonball crashing on the floor and spreading bits of rock in the vicinity. More cannons aimed at him, firing in quick sequence. It was going to be impossible to dodge all the projectiles unless he started running away. How was he supposed to attack?

 ** _Solid Castle_**

 ** _Weak to Garu spells. That's wind, in case you forgot._**

"Wind? None of my Personas can use wind!" Syphus shouted, frustrated. With no Wind magic, and the Darkness magic not working on this target, there was no way this'd end easily. Attacking with the halberd seemed ineffective, too. How did anyone expect his dull blade to hurt those thick elephant legs? In an attempt to get the upper hand, Syphus changed his Persona to Titan, hoping to use its electricity attacks to hurt it.

As soon as the Solid Castle stopped firing so many projectiles, Syphus put the halberd away and focused exclusively on his Persona, making it appear and use Zio. The bolt of electricity hit the mask on top of the Castle, but the Shadow wasn't deterred at all. It retaliated with an attack of its own. A ball of fire was expelled through one of the cannons, homing towards Syphus. "No!" Was the Castle immune to electricity? That crippled even more Syphus' options. The ball of fire hit Titan before Syphus could dispel it. It felt as if something had been set on fire inside of him. Syphus gasped, grabbing his chest, and stepped back while the Shadow prepared the cannons to continue attacking with fire.

"Yo! Over here!" a stone hit one of the walls of the Castle. The Shadow slowly turned around, the cannons twitching in anticipation of what could be a new target. Monster Kid didn't let himself be intimidated by the Castle, though. He kicked another stone in the air and batted it with his tail, hitting the Castle again "Leave him alone!"

"What are you DOING?!" Syphus yelled "Go away!"

The Castle emitted a sound like stones scrapping against each other and fired towards Monster Kid, the cannonballs having enough strength to end the child's life if it impacted against him. Monster Kid didn't stay in the same place, though. He yelped and ran aside, letting out a shout of alarm. In an attempt to divert the Castle's attention and force it to attack him again, Syphus changed Personas once again. _If it fires those balls and has fire attacks then..._ Obariyon seemed like the best option, given that it had resistance against physical and fire attacks. Obariyon only had physical attacks, but it wasn't like he had any better options. "Get moving, kid!" Syphus shouted right when Obariyon emerged from his chest, rapidly reaching the Castle and punching the base of the fortress. That effectively drew the Castle's attention, forcing it to divide its attention between Syphus and Monster Kid. The cannons were mostly in the front of the Shadow; it was impossible for it to aim at two targets at once. _Yeah! This can work!_

Right when Syphus started to think things were starting to be better, the cannons retracted, the Castle shaking as if it was cold. After a second the cannons sprung back out, releasing clouds of greenish smoke that started to seep down towards the floor. _Poison!_ "Don't let that touch you!" he shouted "And go away! This isn't safe!"

"I can help!"

"I don't want you to help! I want you safe and away from here!" If Monster Kid died Syphus wasn't sure he'd take it well. Most likely he'd roll over and let the Castle turn him into mincemeat. The loud of poison started to slowly descend to the floor, covering the area around the Castle and expanding slowly. Seemingly expecting the poison to keep Syphus at bay, the Castle focused on Monster Kid. The child started to step back, looking at the cannons that slowly turned to face him. The Castle advanced slowly, its elephant legs making the ground vibrate. "I told you to leave him alone!" Syphus shouted to the Shadow and looked around, looking for a way to get to Monster Kid before the Castle attacked. There was no way to get there in time. _...this is going to hurt_ Syphus thought, using Obariyon to increase his defense.

Monster Kid ran behind one of the cottages, almost out of breath. He leaned against the wall, hoping he had managed to outrun the Castle enough for it not to notice to which cabin he had gone to. Effectively, he had managed to do that, but that wasn't going to deter the Castle. A crackling noise sounded right before thunder emerged from the ceiling of Waterfall, hitting one of the cottages and setting it on fire. Monster Kid jumped, startled, and got away from the cottage he was hiding behind of, in case it was the next cabin to be targeted. He moved right before another thunder stroke, obliterating the cottage he had been touched a moment ago. "H-Help!" Monster Kid couldn't stop himself from shouting, the Castle starting to be seen over the smoldering remains of the cottage.

"Got it!" Syphus shouted right when a large pair of hands grabbed the sides of the Castle, stopping it from continuing waddling towards Monster Kid. The Persona Titan's size was smaller than the Castle, but it was large enough to stop it. The Shadow, bemused, turned around a few of its cannons and fired at the easy target that was grabbing it, hitting Titan right on the face and chest, but Syphus didn't lose his concentration. Groaning, Syphus forced himself to not let the Persona vanish even if his health kept depleting with every blow, continuing attracting the Castle's projectiles. There has to be a way to defeat this thing, but how? Its defenses seemed impenetrable, and approaching to attack was impossible without risking getting hit by the cannonballs or its fire and electric magic. Syphus couldn't see Monster Kid anymore. Had he run away?

He finally had. Monster Kid reached the stairs that'd take him to the plateau, safe from the Castle's onslaught. "I should have stayed away from the beginning..." Monster Kid muttered, struggling to regain his breath, and looked back to where Titan was still enduring all the attacks from the Castle. It had changed from using normal cannonballs to continue summoning thunder from the ceiling, and Titan seemed to be faring a bit better, but for how long could that go?

Soon Syphus couldn't continue taking the constant attacks, even if Titan resisted electricity. The Persona vanished, forcing Syphus to quickly retreat to avoid being seen by the Castle and hopefully have enough time to heal himself before getting back into the fray. The legs are too sturdy, the walls are impenetrable, I can't get close to the cannons without getting hurt...what's left? Mentally kicking himself for not bringing a Persona with wind skills that'd have finished the fight in no time, Syphus stayed near the wall, trying to blend with the darkness. The Castle very slowly turned around, looking for the piece and not seeing him. _...it moves rather slowly. If I can take that in my advantage..._ That could be the key to defeating the Castle.

"Yooooo!" Monster Kid called from the distance "Try to topple it over!" Toppling it over? _That...that could work_. It was a Castle on a large boulder, standing on two legs. It wasn't precisely a shining example of balance, but a lot of strength would be needed to topple the Castle. The Shadow, having heard Monster Kid, turned around and started waddling towards where the voice had come from. Syphus hesitantly stepped out of the darkness, eyeing the Castle with attention, a plan forming in his mind. It wasn't as impossible as it sounded, now he realized it. Picking up a stone from the floor, Syphus took a deep breath, preparing himself for what he was going to do.

The stone impacted on the back of the Shadow, right where its head would be, causing the Castle to stop and haltingly turning around. Syphus didn't wait for it to finish, though. As soon as the stone hit the Castle, Syphus sprinted forward, running straight towards the Shadow, and jumped right underneath it, between the elephant legs. There wasn't much space, he was forced to crouch, but the Shadow was too slow for it to stomp on Syphus or anything like that. Seeing it wouldn't be able to impact Syphus with any attacks while he was hiding underneath it, the Castle retracted its cannons and released another cloud of poison, letting it descend towards the ground. "Let's get done with this!"

Monster Kid had started to approach back to the village, watching out for any signs he was being attacked again. He wanted to make sure Syphus had heard what he shouted. He got to the village just in time to see Titan emerge from Syphus despite the small space he was at. The large Persona immediately grabbed the Castle's boulder, lifting it in the air just a bit, but Titan was too large for it to fit underneath the Castle. The poison got to the ground and enveloped Syphus, who held his breath. Titan rose to its full height, the Castle losing its footing and tilting back. "It's over!" Syphus shouted with joy, using Titan to deliver a physical attack to the top turrets. The turrets cracked, bits of stone fell from the walls before vanishing in swirls of black smoke. The rest of the Castle slammed the ground, making it tremble noticeably, and vanished in a large cloud of smoke that disappeared quickly. The poison vanished immediately, too. Syphus let out a loud sigh of relief and tiredness, flopping on the ground on his back again.

That fight had been way too much of a hassle, and apparently it had been for naught. Ananas was nowhere in the Hidden Village. Monster Kid approached, offering his tail to help Syphus stand up. "Are you okay? You were hit many times!"

"My everything hurts" Syphus murmured without standing up "I don't get it; Annie was likely to be here! Where else would she be? This is the only place in Waterfall that can be important to her!"

"Maybe she went somewhere else?" Monster Kid sat beside Syphus, looking at the spot where the Castle had been standing not too long ago. There were pieces of stone there, leftovers of the Shadow to be picked up.

"Somewhere else? Where would she have gone?!"

Monster Kid shrugged. "I dunno...to Snowdin?"

"I don't think she even knows where Snowdin is. She supposedly hasn't gone far from the village; she shouldn't know where anything in this place is" Syphus said. Monster Kid laughed sheepishly for a moment, scratching the ground with the claws of one feet.

"I...I told Annie how to get to a few places"

"What?!" Syphus sat up so fast his back creaked. Holding it and hoping the fight with the Castle hadn't injured him "Where else could she have gone?"

"Uh—to where we play...I also showed her a lake, and the way to Undyne's house—"

"You told her how to get to _Undyne's house_?!" Before Monster Kid could finish saying that he had wanted her to meet Undyne, Syphus had stood up and gone towards the entrance plateau. How didn't he think it before? He had forgotten one important detail: the Shadow Self. Supposing that Ananas was undergoing to same level of emotional turmoil Frisk had undergone, it was possible Ananas' Shadow Self had overtaken her. In that case, what'd her Shadow Self do? Prove herself? Fight Cohen? Judging everything Monster Kid had told him...Syphus had the bad feeling Ananas may be trying to assert herself as someone strong enough to defend the human village.

And what better way to assert that than defeating the captain of the Royal Guard? _I hope there's no Shadow equivalent of Undyne here or Ananas may be dead already!_

"Hey! Wait for me!" Monster Kid shouted, hurrying to reach Syphus before the piece went in direction of the rest of Waterfall. Syphus took out his halberd, preparing himself for whatever obstacles could be on the way.

"Show me the way to Undyne's house" Syphus requested "Annie may be there"

"Uh—it's this way" Monster Kid entered a nearby tunnel "Are you sure she's there?"

"No. I don't know. It makes sense, though"

"...I don't understand"

-ooooo-

More Persistent Fuzz Shadows blocked the way to Undyne's house, but Syphus didn't have time to deal with them. At first he had tried to use Ouroboros to get rid of them with Mudo darkness spells, but when it didn't work he instead resorted to pummeling them with Obariyon. Monster Kid followed quietly, letting Syphus clear the way. Syphus wasn't in mood to fight Shadows extensively, satisfied with letting his Persona push them away with physical attacks. He was more worried about Ananas and how long she had been inside her own SOUL. Please let her be okay. Please let it not be too late!

"See this small pond? That's how we know this is the right path" Monster Kid explained, looking at a small elliptical pond in middle of the place they were at "The tunnels over there lead to the snail farm, so Undyne's house is...over here!" Syphus mumbled a 'thank you' and went into the tunnel Monster Kid mentioned. It wasn't long before he got to the end.

There she was. Ananas was standing near the mouth of the room where Undyne's house was located at, staring straight at the house and with her gun in her hand, at the ready to shoot.

* * *

 **Castle-type Shadows are universally of the Emperor arcana.**

 **Take the significance of that any way you want.**

* * *

 **SOCIAL LINKS:**

 **Fool - Frisk - RANK 4**

 **Magician - ? - RANK 0**

 **Priestess - Alphys - RANK 1**

 **Empress - Toriel - RANK 2**

 **Emperor - Cohen - RANK 3**

 **Hierophant - Ciruel - RANK 1**

 **Lovers - ? - RANK 0**

 **Chariot - Ananas - RANK 4**

 **Justice - ? - RANK 0**

 **Hermit - ? - RANK 0**

 **Fortune - ? - RANK 0**

 **Strength - ? - RANK 0**

 **Hanged Man - ? - RANK 0**

 **Death - Cornio - RANK 1**

 **Temperance - ? - RANK 0**

 **Devil - ? - RANK 0**

 **Tower - ? - RANK 0**

 **Star - Lucia - RANK 1**

 **Moon - ? - RANK 0**

 **Sun - Papyrus - RANK 2**

 **Judgment - ? - RANK 0**

 **Aeon - Syphus - RANK 2**

 **Jester - Alphonse - RANK 2**


	16. Chariot Arcana

_"The Chariot arcana is the card of hard control and victory. People who are represented by that arcana are resolute and focused on their goals. However, their determination can be harmful if not tempered by prudence"_

 _"Really, sir?"_

 _"My master knows all about the arcanas"_

 _"Indeed. There are goals that need to be achieved, but if you lose sight of the dangers of your actions, the situation can get worse than it was at first"_

 _"..."_

 _"..."_

 _"...hey...do you think we're doing the right thing?"_

 _"Um...no. But it's too late to stop..."_

 _"There must be something else we can do!"_

 _"I don't think there is. Let's hope we haven't done a mistake by creating this game"_

* * *

Undyne's house was shaped like the upper half of a fish's head, furious and intimidating. It was quite fitting for its owner, that was for sure. Monster Kid was the first one to run towards Ananas, dashing forward as soon as he saw her. Syphus tried to stop him, but the child moved too fast for the piece to stop him. "Annie!" Monster Kid shouted with notable relief in his voice, hurrying to get to her "We were looking for you!" she didn't turn around. Monster Kid laughed nervously for a moment "Come on, we should go"

"...I'll leave later" she replied.

Syphus reached Monster Kid, grabbing him from the back of his shirt and pulling him back rather forcefully. "Why do you have to do everything without thinking?" he growled at him rather rudely, keeping his eyes on Ananas. What she said sounded worryingly distant, not at all like the warm and boisterous tone she usually had. "Annie? Are you feeling okay?"

"I feel great"

"Please, Annie, we have to leave. Don't fight Undyne"

"...no. I must fight Undyne. I'll finally do it" Ananas finally turned around. It was like Syphus feared: the bright yellow eyes Ananas had showed they had arrived quite late. Her Shadow Self had already overtaken her. "I must do it"

"You don't need to do that—" Syphus tried to argue, but Ananas raised her gun, aiming at the house.

"I will do it. I must prove to everyone that I'm capable of fighting. I...I must prove to myself that I'm capable of fighting"

"This isn't going to prove anything. You have to understand that" _Wait, why am I trying to argue?_ It was useless to try to convince her Shadow Self of anything, as far as he knew. Wasn't it a better idea to find what the Shadow had used to ensnare Ananas? With Frisk it had been the SAVE point, what did Ananas have? The gun, perhaps?

"You can't do that!" Monster Kid said "You can't hurt Undyne!"

The way Monster Kid worded what was a real concern – that it'd be useless to attack Undyne – riled up Ananas more. Her visage turned sour, glaring at Monster Kid with no friendliness or care she was talking to who may be the only friend of her age she'd have for a long time.

"What do _you_ know? Who are _you_ to tell me what I'm not capable of?"

"Annie, I—"

"Shut up! I'm tired of everyone telling me I'm not capable of doing something! I can protect everyone I love, and I _will_! I'll do it even if no one believes in me!" Ananas turned around, stepping closer to the house "Undyne is a danger. If I defeat her, no monster will be rival for the humans, not even the king!"

Monster Kid had been about to say something else, but Syphus gently stopped him. The piece put a finger on his lips "It's no use. She won't listen" he said to the child. Ananas, not paying attention to them, continued raving:

"Once I defeat Undyne everyone will have no option but accept I'm not some defenseless little girl. I'll—I'll show everyone-I'll show myself I have the strength to be the guardian!" Ananas stopped, pulling her cowboy hat over her head, holding it with distress "I'm not scared of anything...I'm not scared of dying, I'm not scared of hurting anyone, I won't—I can't let any of that stop me!"

Trying to get close enough to take away Ananas' gun, Syphus tried to distract her by talking. "...are you scared of getting hurt and dying?" Ananas turned around, the bright golden eyes of her Shadow Self shining furiously.

"I'm not scared! Why'd you think I am scared? You're scared!" her lie was so transparent Syphus couldn't avoid feeling pity for Ananas "I'll prove...I can do it" Ananas got away before Syphus could even try taking the gun, running to Undyne's house and stopping right in front of the door "Do you hear me, Undyne! I'm here to fight you! Come out and fight me! I'm not scared of _anything_!"

The moment thin black smoke started emanating from Undyne's house Syphus realized he had gotten it wrong. What has ensnared Ananas wasn't the gun, that hadn't been the form her Shadow Self had at first. It was the house. The door of the house opened, thick tendrils of smoke darting towards Ananas, trapping her. She didn't make any effort to fight it. Instead the girl ran inside the house, holding the gun high. "Annie!" Syphus shouted ineffectively.

"Why's she acting like that?" Monster Kid had stayed away while Syphus tried to deal with the girl, but now that she had gone inside he was finally approaching "You have to go get her! If she fights Undyne-"

Suddenly, Undyne's house started shaking violently as if it was going to rot out of the ground at any moment. Syphus and Monster Kid stepped back, the piece taking out the halberd. This was it, Shadow Ananas was going to take its eldritch form and try to kill them. _With some luck it'll be kind of harmless, like Frisk's._ What were the odds of having to fight another Shadow that didn't attempt to hurt them directly?

The house didn't get off the ground, though. Instead it crashed down noisily and violently. The debris covered the place where Undyne's house had been at. The inside of Undyne's house was covered in steel. ... _Is that supposed to be like that?_ "Nooo!" Monster Kid shouted, running to the remains of the house to try to dig Ananas out of the debris, but he had barely approached when large wisps of black smoke and red particles burst out of it. Slowly, the debris started to coalesce together. Lumpy shapes rose from the ground, the steel and plastic of the house melding and giving life to Shadow Ananas' form.

"...kid, make sure to stay back. This isn't Ananas. She won't recognize you" Syphus advised, always looking at the rising Shadow. Monster Kid obeyed, very confused and not understanding what happened to Ananas or why Syphus wasn't trying to unbury her from among the debris, or why the debris was moving in the first place.

Slowly, the debris of Undyne's house formed a slightly deformed hulking creature with blue scales, clad in a shiny black armor, with long spikes protruding from the shoulders and the knuckles. A mouth like a lamprey's mouth covered almost the entire face, not leaving any space for any other facial features. The red hair-like fins on the head was braided, looking like Ananas' braid. In the hands there was a terrifyingly large spear, so large the Shadow needed both hands to hold it, the sharp end of the spear as large as Syphus, and on fire, bathing the room in a sinister red and orange glow. A large SOUL-shaped glass shone on its torso, yellow and bright.

 _What's that supposed to be?!_ Ananas' fears, the image she had of Undyne - distorted by her terror - and her wish to be strong enough to be the guardian of the human village, it all had joined together to form the bizarre mockery of Undyne that stood where the house once was. _Whatever. I'll get Annie out of that thing._

 **Shadow Ananas, Chariot arcana. No information available**

The analysis was rather unhelpful, much to Syphus' frustration. Shadow Ananas stepped forward, hunching over and focusing on Syphus despite the lack of eyes on its face. "I'll prove it...I can do it!" Syphus couldn't stop himself from prudently stepping back, getting ready for whatever the Shadow's first attack would be. Shadow Ananas took the initiative, raising the humongous spear and trying to impale Syphus against the floor with it. He jumped back, feeling the heat emanating from the head of the spear. The spear sank into the ground as if it was a red hot knife passing through butter. Chunks of rock and earth were thrown upwards with strength, cracks extended up to the edges of the room, but that wasn't the extent of Shadow Ananas' attack. A red bright light shone underneath the floor, through the cracks that were visible. _What the...?_

It was as if something had been turned on underneath the cavern. Starting from where Ananas was standing columns of fire erupted from the cracks, extending rather high in the air, scorching heat filled the room. Alarmed, Syphus changed his Persona to Obariyon and braced for impact, hoping the Persona's resistance to fire would be enough to withstand the eruption.

Luckily for Syphus, it was enough, but it didn't mean the attack didn't hurt. When the fire erupted underneath Syphus he was hit by the brunt of the fire. The column of fire lasted no more than a second or two, but it felt like an eternity to him. The air was so hot he reflexively held his breath, fearing he could scorch his insides if he dared to breathe. Shadow Ananas wasn't going to stand around and wait for the piece to recover, it wanted to end the fight as brutally and quickly as possible. It jumped forward and swung the spear as if it was a baseball bat, slamming the metallic pole against Syphus' chest and hurtling him against the wall. Syphus didn't see it coming, having tried to protect his eyes against the heat. All he knew was that one moment he was bracing for the fire and the next something hit him and now his back had crashed against the wall with a rather nasty noise. Syphus crumpled to the floor, his fingernails scraping against the rocks, and summoned Obariyon. He had to do _something_! What attacks did Obariyon have that could help?

Nothing more than physical attacks. Trying to gain some time to think of a plan before Shadow Ananas could get close enough to use that spear again, Syphus mentally focused on using Obariyon to punch the foe, hitting it right on the armored chest. It didn't faze the Shadow at all.

"Watch out!" shouted Monster Kid from some distance away. Syphus used the pole of the halberd to stand up, his legs trembling from the effort. Shadow Ananas raised the spear, intending to nail Syphus against the wall.

Syphus yelled in horror and surprise, raising his hand and trying to use Obariyon to stop the spear from descending. The strange orange imp that was his Persona hung onto the pole, pushing down and managing to deviate the spear away from him. The head of the spear sank just inches away from Syphus, burying deep without trying to use the weapon to call for fire like it had done before.

"Run!" Monster Kid had already hightailed away. Syphus followed him without thinking, just wanting to get away from Shadow Ananas. While the Shadow tried to get the spear unstuck from the ground, Syphus took his halberd, hit the Shadow right above its mouth with the blade, and started running away. "Come back here!" Shadow Ananas roared, furious, while Syphus finally got in the corridor that led back to the small pond Monster Kid had found before. Behind him, the Shadow pulled out the spear and waved it towards Syphus, a ball of fire appearing in front of the piece and exploding, scorch marks appearing on the rocks of the tunnel. He managed to stop before he ran right into it. Hoping to gain some time, Syphus changed to Ouroboros to use Bufu. If this Shadow was proficient with Agi spells, wouldn't it be logical for it to be weak to ice? Syphus knew he was placing himself at risk by having active a Persona weak to fire, but he thought this was a good enough risk to take.

It wasn't as effective as he hoped. The ice crystals covered the Shadow's armor before pushing through the minuscule weak points in it, and while it did recoil, ice wasn't a weakness Syphus could exploit. _Damn it! Does it have no weaknesses at all?!_ Running away seemed more and more like a better idea, even though he knew Shadow Ananas was simply going to chase him and Monster Kid.

The child was already on the other side of the pond, jumping up and down to get Syphus' attention. It wasn't a bad idea to be here, this room was bigger than where Syphus had been fighting before. Syphus placed himself beside Monster Kid, preparing Obariyon again. _I'm going to hate myself for even suggesting this. How desperate am I?!_ "Kid, I want you to look in nearby rooms for anything that could be of use" while he gave instructions, Obariyon waved a hand, firing thin arrows at Shadow Ananas' face "If you see a Shadow don't approach! Don't risk it!"

"A-Are you sure about this?"

"I'm absolutely _unsure_ about this!" It was a nicer way of saying 'I don't have the slightest idea of what I'm doing'. "But we're running out of options, I—no!" Syphus pushed Monster Kid out of the way before a ball of fire erupted right where the child had been standing a moment ago "Get going!"

Monster Kid looked at Syphus, at the Shadow he was now running at to attack with the halberd while Obariyon hung onto the fins of the foe's face, and nodded. Syphus was relying on him, he had to help! "Leave it to me!" he shouted back while running towards the first tunnel he found.

He didn't run for long. Just a few feet away after leaving the run, Monster Kid encountered a small gap, filled with water. The bright blue water was leaking towards the ground as if it threatened to cover it in any moment. "Oh, the gap!" the child looked around, hoping to find the bird that'd carry anyone to the other side, but it was nowhere to be seen. Could that big Undyne-like thing pass over water? Surely it couldn't, right? "I'll tell that human!" the child told himself as encouragement. He really didn't want to return to a place where there was someone waving a spear bigger than he was!

But he had to.

"Come over here!" the child yelled once he could see Syphus. Syphus had jumped on the Shadow and was hanging for dear life from the braid it had, clutching it as if it was a lifeline while Shadow Ananas shook its head, trying to get him away. Obariyon was nowhere to be seen, instead Titan was slashing over and over with its sword the Shadow's armor, attempting to wear down the foe. Given the spikes on the Shadow's shoulders, hanging from the braid was far from being a smart decision from Syphus.

"I'll—whoa!—give me a minute!" Syphus barely managed to shout despite the wild swinging.

It took him a while to be able to let go of the braid. It was kind of a miracle that he hadn't ended impaled on any of the spikes on the Shadow's armor. In a moment of danger, Syphus had used Titan to aim to the head, giving it a resounding blow with Titan's sword. Shadow Ananas roared but was forced to bow down, moment Syphus took to let go of the braid and pick up the halberd he had dropped on the floor. Trying to keep Shadow Ananas busy with Titan's attacks while he and Monster Kid went towards where the child had said, the two ran until they reached the gap. Titan vanished, too far away from Syphus for the piece to be able to control the Persona, leaving Shadow Ananas free to pursue them again.

"There's nothing here!" Syphus said, looking around with worried expression. It was just a gap and water; why did Monster Kid call him here?

"She uses fire, right? And fire can be defeated with water, so try to bring her to the water here!"

"...I'll see what I can do" not that there was much time to think about it, Shadow Ananas' stomping was coming closer and closer, but how was he going to use water against that Shadow? The piece's mind was blank, no ideas sprung forth. _We'll have to keep running away!_ Without warning, Syphus grabbed without warning Monster Kid's shirt, raised him in the air and ran as fast as he could, trying to jump over the gap. He didn't get all the way to the other side. Syphus crashed and sank in the water, around three feet away from the other shore. The water got up to his chest, while Monster Kid ended completely submerged for a moment. The child got his head out of the water, gasping for breath "Sorry!" Syphus muttered, immediately getting the child out of the water and onto the shore. While Monster Kid recovered from the unexpected swim, Syphus started climbing to the other side. He just managed to get a knee over the shore when Shadow Ananas found them. "That is a monster...hey! You! Fight me if you can!" it shouted, aiming at the child.

Monster Kid ran away immediately, not looking back when he heard the impact of that large spear against the rocks. Syphus ducked underneath the spear that was sticking out of the wall where Monster Kid had ran by, trying again to think of a plan. He was alone on this. If he had at least a teammate, he would be able to fight back, but since he was alone he had to look for alternate ways to cause damage to the Shadow. But how to do that? "It's flooded over here!" Syphus heard not too far away, while behind him Shadow Ananas pulled the spear out of the wall.

The place they were at was a relatively long corridor, mostly flooded with water up to his knees. There was a sizable island in middle of the corridor, high enough for it to be completely dry. "Any other Shadows over there?!"

"I don't think—AAAH!" Monster Kid yelled in surprise, making Syphus hurry more to reach him. One single Merciless Maya had cornered Monster Kid against the wall, preparing to slash at the monster with its sharp fingers. Syphus didn't waste any time on hitting the Maya with the halberd, obliterating it immediately. Monster Kid looked as if he was about to freak out, but instead of fainting or anything similar, his eyes widened. "Look out!"

It was too late to move. The head of Shadow Ananas' spear impacted right against Syphus' back, stabbing him. It was so large it couldn't even impale Syphus further than a couple centimeters, but that didn't stop the wound from hurting him a lot. The heat from the spear didn't help, either. Syphus froze, shuddering and feeling his muscles spasm, barely suppressing the urge to shout in pain. If he showed how hurt he was then Monster Kid would get scared, much more than he already was. "G-Get...get away...kid..." he managed to say. No blood dripped from his back.

"Please be okay! I'll—I'll look for help!"

"N-No, it's..." Syphus was trying very, very hard not to lose control over his pain management and make Monster Kid panic. It was not a minor wound, but it shouldn't be something a normal Dia healing spell couldn't fix, right? Shadow Ananas removed the spear off Syphus' back, making the piece fall back, slamming against the water and sinking under the surface. The cold of the water was like a punch to the wound on his back, keeping him awake enough to realize that he needed to heal himself immediately. Only one of his Personas had healing skills, it was a Persona he hadn't ever used before – Senri, the ancient mountain cat that could transform into a human. Once Dia was casted on himself, he felt the wound on his back close as if it was never there. The pain didn't fully go away, but at least he wasn't in danger of paralyzing himself if he moved. Syphus rolled around in the water, holding his breath, and once he judged Shadow Ananas may have lost sight of where he was, he stood up, receiving a fire spell to the face for his trouble. Syphus instinctively closed his eyes, the fire impacting him right on the face...without causing any damage at all. _Wait what?_ In a moment of realization, Syphus facepalmed.

He hadn't done the basic task of checking all of his available Personas' weaknesses and resistances. He hadn't realized Senri was _completely immune to fire_. "...I'm so _stupid_...!" everything would have been easier if he had realized it before! Syphus grabbed his halberd tighter and held it at the ready, noticing Monster Kid had gone to the other end of the corridor. Syphus was getting onto the dry island, chance Shadow Ananas used to plant the spear into the ground and again cause columns of fire to erupt, all of them concentrated in the dry island. Syphus looked down just in time to see fire ascending right beneath him through the cracks on the ground, but he felt nothing. Having Senri as the active Persona had effectively turned him invulnerable to the fire.

It wasn't going to turn him invulnerable to the spear, though. Seeing that the fire attacks wouldn't work, Shadow Ananas changed strategies, trying to get the spear out of the ground. Taking advantage of the moment of reprieve, Syphus quickly looked around, ignoring his sore back.

Shadow Ananas was in the water, he was on dry ground and Monster Kid was at the end of the corridor – looking at him with horror and hoping nothing bad would happen, but on dry ground too nonetheless. _May as well..._ Would it work? Syphus changed Personas back to Titan, summoning from the sea of his soul the large gladiator, and focused on the Shadow. "Let's see if water conducts magical electricity too!" Syphus shouted, raising his arm high like Titan did. From the ceiling of the cavern, many bolts of electricity descended and impacted the water. The group electric attack – Mazio—was indeed able to travel through the water and right onto the Shadow. Shadow Ananas stood still, falling in the water from the strength of the attack, but after a moment it stood up. It had barely advanced when Syphus used Mazio again, stopping it again. Smoke was emanating from Shadow Ananas, and Syphus wasn't sure if that meant it was greatly damaged or if it was just a consequence of striking something over and over with thunder.

"Yo...did you defeat it?" Monster Kid asked, approaching Syphus. The piece put his hand on Monster Kid's head, keeping him away from the Shadow.

"I don't think it's done yet—" he had started saying when Shadow Ananas tried to use the spear to stand up, chance Syphus used to strike with Mazio again. The Shadow hobbled before falling forward, the back of the armor clanking and breaking, a gap forming on the steel. Slowly, as if she was waking up from a dream, Ananas stood up from there, moving very slowly "Now it's over!" Syphus left the halberd on the ground and hurried towards Ananas, followed by Monster Kid "Annie? Annie, are you okay?"

"...Syphus? Where...?" Ananas shook her head, rubbing her eyes "What happened?" Syphus carefully grabbed her to help her get off the hole in the armor, leaving her on dry ground.

"Annie!" Monster Kid tackled Ananas, making her stumble. It wasn't a hug, but it was the best he could do. Ananas gasped, surprised, but after a moment she grinned excitedly and pushed Monster Kid aside.

"What do you think you're doing, pardner?" she tussled with him playfully, laughing. Monster Kid wasn't laughing, though. Instead he pushed Ananas away a bit, looking as if he was about to cry.

"I thought you had fallen down! What happened to you?"

"What happened to..." the girl looked around her, especially at her Shadow lying in the water "Oh...now I remember..."

"Did you see who attacked you?" Syphus asked, picking up his halberd and folding it.

"No. I was grabbed from the back and then I fell asleep. I don't know who did it" she frowned "But when I find out who did I'll kick them in the shins!"

"There'll be time for that later"

After making sure Ananas was unharmed despite everything Syphus did to attack her Shadow, she took off her hat, staring at the creature she had been enveloped by before. "I attacked you guys with that thing...I'm sorry"

"What's that? Why does it look like Undyne?" Monster Kid asked, trying to approach the armored Shadow.

"...I know what it is" Ananas muttered "I want to be the guardian of the Hidden Village, but I..." she looked away "I'm starting to think I can't do it"

"What? But you're strong! You know how to fight, and you—"

"That was play fighting! That doesn't mean I'll be okay in a real fight" Ananas crossed her arms "I...please don't tell anyone this, guys, but I..." Ananas muttered something unintelligible.

"Hm? What did you say?" Syphus asked patiently.

"I'm scared! I want to think I can do it, but I'm scared. What if I'm not strong enough? I'll die—everyone will die and it'd be my fault! I want to prove that I can do it...but not just to Cohen, or to everyone else. _I_ want to know I can do it"

"But—Annie, you can do it! I believe you can fight!" Monster Kid tried to encourage, but Ananas still didn't seem convinced. At a loss of what to say, Monster Kid looked at Syphus "Yo, mister, can't you tell her she can fight?"

"Right, uuuh..." _But what can I say?_ It wasn't like Syphus was particularly confident about Ananas' fighting skills. Maybe that approach wasn't the right one "Annie, you don't have to be strong right now. You'll turn stronger with time"

"Yeah! I'll help you get stronger" Monster Kid offered "You can do it, Annie, you don't have to give up!"

"...would you really do that...for me?" Ananas asked Monster Kid, who nodded immediately, grinning. After a moment of pause she returned the smile "I'd like that"

"Don't give up, one day you'll be as strong as Undyne! I promise you will!"

"As strong as her? Do you think I could do it?"

"Yeah!" the monster child said without any hesitation. Ananas looked at Syphus as if hoping for confirmation. The piece simply shrugged.

"If you believe you can then you can. You have someone who wants to help you, I say you take the chance"

The girl stared into her hat, mulling that. Maybe she wasn't strong enough yet, but she could grow to be worthy of being who she wanted to be. It was a matter of working hard, right? That's what everyone would say. Backing off wasn't an option for her, she'd make sure of it! "I promise I'll get stronger. I'll be the best guardian the Hidden Village could hope to have!" she put her hat back on, with confident expression "Thanks, guys...I needed to hear that" Monster Kid was going to reply to that when Shadow Ananas moved. It slowly stood up, gripping the giant spear. Syphus immediately moved to take the halberd out, and Monster Kid stepped back with a cry of fear, but Ananas didn't recoil. Instead she gripped her gun, taking out and aiming to her Shadow. "It's okay. I got this. That is what I'll overcome, you'll see!"

"What? Annie, I should—" Syphus tried to convince her to leave this up to him, but the girl shook her head rather emphatically.

"That thing is mine. I'll start getting strong by defeating it!" Ananas put her finger on the trigger "H-Hey! You! Over here!" The Shadow turned its head towards Ananas, its mouth opening in a roar "You don't scare me! I'm—I'm not afraid! And even if I'm scared anytime I won't stop! I believe I won't!"

And then she fired the gun.

The bullet impacted the Shadow right above its mouth, and Ananas, not having expected the recoil of the gun, stepped backwards. The Shadow slowly tipped forward, slamming the ground with a very loud metallic noise. Ananas stared at it, sweating and clenching her teeth, and took a deep breath, shaking "If I'm not strong enough yet...then I'll try to be strong in the future. I'm scared but—but that won't stop me anymore!"

The Shadow, having been given the final blow by the person who had spawned it in the first place, started glowing. Blue particles and lights started flowing out of the Shadow. _What's going on?_ Syphus, Ananas and Monster Kid could only stare until slowly something rose from the remains of the Shadow, enveloped in that bright blue glow.

It looked like a short human. A very oversized helmet with fins to the sides like Undyne covered its head, a large red plume came out of the top of the head and extended down its back. The strange apparition was dressed with a white flowing dress, gauntlets, shoulder pads and metallic cowboy boots, as well as a red girdle that emanated a subtle glow. On its hands there was a gigantic battle axe, so large it couldn't be lifted with ease. The apparition looked like a child playing to dress like a warrior, but there was a seriousness and intimidating aura in it that made everyone who was observing admire it as if it was a true fighter.

 **Ananas has taken the decision to break her self-imposed chains and reach her true potential. The strength of her heart has bestowed her the Persona Hippolyta**

The Persona vanished. For a moment no one said a thing, staring with awe at where the Persona had been. _...so that's how it's done? Of all people Annie got a Persona..._ Did it mean that in order to obtain a Persona someone not only needed to be attacked and fall down, they also needed to _defeat_ their own Shadow?

"Consarn it, what was that?!" Ananas finally breaking the silence.

"Uuuuh...yo, is that something all humans can do?" Monster Kid asked. Ananas looked at Syphus, putting away her gun.

"Wait, you have something like that too! I remember it" she said to him. Syphus glanced at Monster Kid. Going into a long explanation as to what was that Persona thing wasn't something Syphus wanted to do right now. Besides, to be completely honest with himself, he wasn't entirely happy Ananas had obtained a Persona. That meant that if he didn't want to put his life in excessive risk, he had to take Ananas with him. Things were bound to get more difficult, it was urgent he had a teammate with a Persona, and now that he may have one...he wasn't exactly enthusiastic about it. _Damn it, I shouldn't be feeling like that! I should be grateful!_ But the thought of getting Ananas into all this...it just didn't sit well with him. There had to be some other way, right? A way that didn't involve putting her in danger "Syphus? Why are you staring blankly like that?"

"S-Sorry, I got distracted" Syphus cleared his throat, avoiding to look at Ananas "We should return home"

"Right! The village was this way!" Monster Kid started going towards the part of Waterfall where the Hidden Village was at, but Syphus stopped him, telling him they didn't have to do that. When Ananas asked what he meant, Syphus pointed at her vest.

"Look in the inside of your vest, on the right side. There should be a brooch there" he instructed while he picked up pieces of the Shadow's armor. Ananas obeyed, opening her vest and finding the firefly brooch Syphus had placed there to enter her SOUL. "Wait, don't touch it"

"What's this?"

"I'll explain later. Let's return" Syphus put his hand on Monster Kid's head, making sure he'd come with them once they returned, and pressed on the brooch. Just like it had happened the other time, the false Waterfall around them distorted and vanished.

-ooooo-

The first thing Syphus heard when he started to wake up was panicked shouting. It took him a moment to realize it was from Ananas. As soon as he realized that, he sat up, looking in direction of the screams. He didn't even have time to move when Cohen and Graham entered, rushing towards her. "Annie! What's wrong?" Graham asked, leaving aside the bowl he had brought. Ananas stopped screaming and breathed heavily, gulping and looking around with fear.

"I...where am I?"

"You're at home. We're all here, you're safe" Graham said soothingly. Ananas shuddered once and fell back on the bed, looking at the ceiling.

"That was...I'm sorry. I had a bad dream" she murmured, sounding like she didn't believe it herself. She looked at Cohen, who was looking at her with worried expression "Oh. Hi"

"How're you feeling, Annie?" he asked, sounding surprisingly soft.

"I'm okay. Really" she tried to roll and get out of the bed but Graham impeded it, blocking her way.

The old man crossed his arms. "You're going to stay on that bed for some time. You have been unconscious for a few hours"

Ananas looked like she was about to protest the order to stay on bed, but instead she plopped on the mattress, frowning "Fine. I'm going to rest"

"Um, mister?" Syphus heard someone whispering to his side. It was Monster Kid, apparently he just woke up too. Syphus gestured him to stay silent while the situation developed, unsure of where things would go. Obviously everyone in the village must be aware by now a monster had gotten in. What'd they do?

After making sure Ananas would stay on bed, Graham approached Syphus and Monster Kid. "Want some food?" he asked them. It wasn't long before he returned with a couple plates of food. Monster Kid started stuffing his face as soon as he received the food, while Syphus stared at it with contemplative expression, not having appetite for the moment.

"Yo, are you going to eat that?" Monster Kid asked with his mouth full. Syphus wordlessly passed him the plate, deciding to talk with Graham for a moment.

"What are we going to do with the kid?"

Graham pointed with his thumb behind him, to where Cohen was sitting outside the cabin. "Cohen called Mom Toriel. She's going to pick him up"

"The Queen is coming here?!" the child almost stood up, dropping the plates, but he managed to stop himself right in time. Graham nodded, avoiding to look at Syphus.

"Yep! Don't worry, she's cool. She may be the Queen but she's a sweet old lady" he said "But you have to listen to her. She's going to ask you a favor, and you need to do what she says" It wasn't much of a stretch to think that Toriel was going to ask for Monster Kid's silence. It was unlikely she'd explain much about the village and all the humans living there.

Just like Graham said, Toriel arrived to the village. By then Syphus had retired to Cohen's cottage, saying he felt exhausted and wanted to sleep on his mattress. The Queen entered at a speed that hinted how worried she was, looking around the cabin and going straight to where Ananas was resting. "My child, what happened to you?"

"I, um...I hit my head" Ananas lied, sounding curiously timid. Was it because she was lying or because lying to Toriel's face wasn't easy for her? Toriel seemed satisfied with the excuse, after a couple minutes of fussing, she stood up to talk with Monster Kid "Wait!"

"Yes, my child?"

"I found this in my pocket, but it's not mine. Can you put it somewhere?" she put an object in Toriel's hand. The Queen observed the object, turning it around in her hand.

It was a child's shoe, the sole caked with mud.

-ooooo-

The rest of the day was dedicated to damage control, so to speak. Toriel had talked with Monster Kid and convince him to not tell anyone about the Hidden Village. The child was starstruck, talking with the Queen of All Monsters! He accepted every word without question, nodding and looking at her with awe. "Yes! I promise!" he had said many times. Cohen and Byssa had privately asked Toriel if she really believed Monster Kid wouldn't tell about the village, but the Queen assured them he wasn't going to say a word.

Ananas stayed in bed for the rest of the day, being unusually cooperative. She let Graham take care of her and bring her food, and although she still refused to see Cohen for more time than necessary, she at least talked to him without growling or trying to get away.

The next day Cohen insisted she continued resting, and that was the end of her good will. Syphus could hear her shouting from outside. _...I'm not going to go inside_ he vowed, walking away and trying to pretend he didn't hear Ananas screaming her vocal chords off in frustration. Sometimes that girl could be a bit of a brat, not that he blamed her. For someone as active as Ananas, the perspective of staying in bed for a whole day doing pretty much nothing must have been incredibly frustrating.

Syphus had wanted to talk with Ananas about the Persona, what it all was about and what it entailed, but since Cohen and Graham both stayed inside the cabin taking care of Ananas he never had the chance. May as well find a few details. Fusing some new Personas, making sure he understood what Ananas had done to obtain it, tell Papyrus that it's unlikely he'll be able to join Syphus in the future unless something bad happened to him...it was going to be a busy day after working at Grillby's again.

Grillby turned out to be way more patient than Syphus expected, although the piece had the feeling Grillby still wasn't entirely happy about hiring him. "This is not an official job" the translator bird had said "Grillby says you can come here to work if you feel like it, don't force yourself if you don't want to" It was both a relief and insulting.

The excursion into the Velvet Room after the part-time job was very productive. When Syphus entered, he found out Alphonse wasn't there. When asked about where Alphonse had gone, Igor indicated Syphus to sit down. "I sent them on an errand" he explained "For today I shall do all the services of the Velvet Room" And he did, he completed the Persona fusions with just as much patience as Alphonse did.

"Someone I know obtained a Persona" Syphus said while trying to get the right skills on the Persona he wanted "She shot her own Shadow Self and it just...it turned into a Persona"

"Ah, yes. Your Chariot Social Link obtained the façade she uses to face life's hardships"

"How did that happen, what did she do?"

Igor's eternal grin seemed to widen. In a way it reminded Syphus of Sans. "Shadows are pieces of consciousness and emotions given form, and it could be said a Persona is a tamed Shadow. To obtain a Persona one needs to accept their Shadow Self in some way. Some people find their true potential when they or someone they love is in danger. Others obtain it by accepting their flaws. Others have acquired a Persona by forcing themselves to face painful truths about the world and themselves.

In your friend's case – and it'll happen for everyone who will obtain a Persona during your journey – it'll be by deciding to face the obstacles and worries their Shadow Self represents"

That made some sense. At least it did explain how Ananas delivering the final blow and taking a new resolve had led to obtaining the Persona. "I see...can anyone obtain a Persona?"

"Only those who face their own weaknesses and suffering will obtain a Persona. Whether they're human or a monster won't influence anything" Igor extended a hand "Some of your partners will be monsters, others will be humans, and others won't fit neither category. All that matters is that they face their Shadow Self and win"

Syphus nodded and extended his choice of skills for the Persona he requested for fusion. "And what'd happen if we fail and the Shadow Self, uh...wins?"

Igor prepared the fusion. "Then their Shadow Self will overwhelm them. Their decisions and actions shall be dictated by their Shadow Self. As you may imagine, the consequences from following such unbridled fears and courage has the potential to be... _catastrophic_ "

Syphus gulped, trying not to think too much about what Ananas would have done if her Shadow Self had ended overwhelming her.

After getting reminded that the items Sans had given him had a use inside their SOULs and that he should try his best to use the gathered materials to obtain more items – "what's my life now, a RPG?" the piece had said - Syphus went to Papyrus' house to deliver the news regarding obtaining a Persona. When Syphus arrived to the skeleton brothers' house he found Frisk looking outside with wistful expression. "Hey there, Frisk" Syphus greeted. The child merely glanced at him, acknowledged his presence and went back to look outside. "Is there something wrong?"

"THEY HAVE BEEN STARING OUTSIDE FOR A WHILE ALREADY, AND THEY DID YESTERDAY TOO. WHEN I ASKED IF SOMETHING WAS WRONG THEY SAID THEY WANTED TO CONTINUE THEIR ADVENTURE"

"Oh" So Frisk was growing antsy about having to stay in the house...Syphus immediately went to remind Frisk why they were staying in Snowdin, but it seemed like Frisk wasn't listening. It was matter of time before Frisk decided they had waited enough. It had just been three days so far, but to them it was as if weeks had passed, they wanted to see their friends, go all the way to the Barrier.

"...yes..." Frisk mumbled without even looking at Syphus. The piece shook his head but decided to trust Frisk on this, hoping the child would understand it was prudent to stay put for the time being.

Explaining to Papyrus that obtaining a Persona was impossible unless he was at some point attacked went much more smoothly than Syphus expected. Papyrus listened and didn't seem upset that Syphus had pretty much benched him for the time being. "I SEE! DO NOT FRET, FRIEND! EVEN IF I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AM ATTACKED, I WILL FACE MY FEARS WITHOUT...WITHOUT FEAR!"

"It can't be that easy—"

"IT IS EASIER IF YOU BELIEVE IN YOURSELF!"

"Well, yeah, you're right about that" If there was something Papyrus had a lot of, it was confidence in his own skills and strengths. What kind of Shadow Self could a guy like him have? Syphus couldn't imagine what it could be "Look, I'm not saying you won't ever accompany me again, but it's something that's out of my hands. It's better if you're not attacked, either way"

Papyrus didn't seem particularly concerned about the possibility of being attacked and forced to endure his own Shadow Self. The skeleton raised a gloved finger, telling Syphus to wait, and lifted something from the floor, leaving it on the table. "UNTIL THE TIME COMES FOR ME TO HELP YOU BY YOUR SIDE, I'LL CHEER FOR YOU FROM THE SIDELINES. HERE IS A GIFT, FROM ME TO YOU!"

"A gift? What's this?" Syphus took the box Papyrus was passing him. It had a dozen tiny beads, it seemed to be medicine. A price tag in the corner showed an exorbitant number that made Syphus dizzy just from thinking for how long he'd need to work to be able to buy something like this.

"I BOUGHT IT FROM METTATON'S SHOPPING SHOW. HE SAID THESE BEADS ARE REVITALIZING! I THOUGHT IT'D BE USEFUL FOR YOU"

Syphus stared at the box, feeling a strange mixture of gratitude and concern. Did Papyrus have enough gold to throw around like this? "Papyrus, I'll pay you for this. I can't take something so expensive just like that"

"PLEASE DON'T! IT'S A GIFT"

 **You have obtained twelve Revival Beads**

After failing to convince Papyrus to let him pay with the little money he had, Syphus told Papyrus he had left more debris and stuff from the Shadows right there by the entrance, and left. His feathers were flat against his scales, he was hunched over and deep in his thoughts. Papyrus would do anything to be of help, that much was for sure. _If he does get a Persona I'll take him with me...at least he knows about humans already. That should be one problem less_.

-ooooo-

Toriel, having finished cleaning the shoe Ananas had given her, entered the extra room in her house. The shoe looked familiar...didn't she have shoes like that one in the closet of that room? The Queen opened the closet and looked among the shoes. Indeed, there was the matching shoe.

How did Ananas find a shoe that was supposed to be at the Ruins?

-ooooo-

The seventh day started. Given what Grillby had said about not needing to go to the job every day, Syphus decided to try to talk with Ananas about the Persona. Ananas, fully rested and looking more energetic than two days ago. When she came out of the Hidden Village, dressed with her wild west clothing, Syphus waved at her, he had the illusion on. Ananas didn't seem happy when she saw the reptile that had been too close to finding the village – as far as she knew – but unlike the other times she didn't try to aim the gun at him. "...good morning" Ananas said, managing to repress the trembling in her voice.

"Annie, don't say a word of this to anyone" Syphus said before deactivating the firefly brooch, showing himself as a human. Ananas stepped back, surprised.

"That was you? Oh—I'm sorry, I didn't mean to aim the gun at you before" Ananas rubbed her eyes "How did you do that?!"

"Magic" That seemed to be enough explanation for Annie. How many times did she receive that explanation before about other things?

"Can I get a monster costume too?"

"No, but I have something for you that's good enough" Syphus showed the cloak he still had from when Toriel had taken him to the Hidden Village and helped her to put it on "We're going somewhere to talk about Personas" he said before walking away. Ananas hurried to reach him, clutching the cloak and its hood in an attempt to not to show her face at all.

"W-Wait! Where are we going?! I don't think we should go too far away"

"Don't you want to see more than just a few tunnels in Waterfall?" Syphus turned his head around, smiling at her before activating his illusion again "You'll be safe as long as you're with me"

Ananas' eyes widened a bit. "Really? We can...see other places?" her voice sounded very hopeful, as if Syphus had just offered her something impossible yet wanted for quite a long time.

"Did you know that there are places where you can talk and people are so focused on their own lives they don't pay any attention to you? If we go there, we can talk and be sure no one will listen to what we say. If we did it in any random cave there's always the risk a passerby would be around and listen, so—"

"Wait, I don't get it. Where did you say we're going?" the temperature was getting higher, until Ananas wished she wasn't wearing that heavy cloak and hood. Syphus grinned, feeling curiously giddy.

"You'll see. Welcome to Hotland!" It wasn't long before they got to their destination: a large building, luxuriously decorated and with a large fountain in the lobby. Ananas looked around, enjoying the sight. This was nothing at all like she thought other parts of the Underground looked like! It was welcoming yet daunting, but there was a tingle of excitement in the air that felt invigorating and made her want to return at some point. Syphus led Ananas to a pair of large glass doors visible from the lobby, opening them for her "Here we go!"

"What's this place?"

"A fast food restaurant" Syphus did jazz hands as if he had just announced something of impressive proportions. Ananas' initial excitement faded in record time, her formerly natural grin turning a bit strained. The inside of the MTT-Brand Burger Emporium didn't look bad at all, but it wasn't really the marvel Ananas had expected.

"I'm not sure this is a good place to talk about our plans, Syphus"

The MTT-Brand Burger Emporium had a few monsters sitting at the tables, but it was unlikely anyone would pay much attention to them. It was true a couple monsters glanced at Ananas, but none of them seemed to notice she was actually human. Feeling a bit calmer, Ananas sat onto an empty table, drumming her fingers in anticipation. "I have never been here at one of these restaurants before!"

"I'll try to see if I can buy you something later, but for now we need to talk" Syphus sat on the other side of the table, looked around and lowered his voice. "Let's go straight to the point. Annie, I'm going to be honest: this isn't going to be fun and games"

"I know...I remember the things that filled that place" she whispered back.

"You may have gained a Persona but that doesn't mean you'd be safe"

"I have a gun and five bullets left" her hand went to the holster on her hip. Syphus nodded, mentally praying Ananas had the common sense not to draw it out in middle of the restaurant. Thankfully, Ananas kept it hidden.

"We can't rely only on your revolver or on my halberd. Personas would be our best bet" he proceeded to explain that a Persona was 'like an extension of you, not a sentient creature you control'. The girl listened with attention, unsure if she understood everything, but she was sure she got the gist of it all.

Ananas tipped her hat forward. "Personas are so cool...I don't understand them, but it looks like it could be magic! I can't believe I'll be doing magic!" her voice gained volume near the end, her excitement overcoming her prudence. Syphus gestured her to keep her voice down.

"Look, this is dangerous, and I don't feel completely comfortable taking a kid with me into this mess, so I need you to promise me—"

The girl didn't let him finish his thought, she glared at Syphus from underneath her hat. "You're saving people"

"That's true—"

"Then I want to help. I want to be a hero too! I want to help humans and monsters" she said eagerly.

"Again, you need to think this through—"

"This is my chance to get stronger! We'll go together, fight against evil, and then-"

"Can you stop interrupting me?!" Syphus's reptilian irises narrowed for a moment "It's not a matter of strength. You have to understand this is _dangerous_!" Syphus said. The girl stared at the table, gripping the edge with trepidation. After a moment of silence, Syphus sighed and stood up. "Look, I'm not rejecting your help. I just want you to think this through"

" Yeah, you said that already" Ananas was silent for a moment before nodding slowly "...I...I want to help..."

"You don't have to accept right in this moment. Here, I'll get you something to eat while you think" It would be a harsh blow to Syphus' finances, but he felt bad breaking Ananas' panache like he did. It was true Ananas was just a little girl, but even at this age Syphus could see the determination and will to protect other people he remembered from Ananas in his timeline _. She was always like this...some things never change no matter what._ It was rather comforting, although Syphus wouldn't admit that to anyone. Syphus approached the counter of the Burger Emporium, looking for gold in his pockets.

The orange cat-like monster behind the counter seemed bored to death, leaning his head against his fist and staring at the ceiling as if he was daydreaming. The way his eyes were glazed over and he looked about to fall asleep showed he was just...doing absolutely nothing. When Syphus approached, the monster subtly sighed and straightened up and showed a smile that proved he had a lot of practice in retail hell. "Welcome to MTT-Brand Burger Emporium, home of the Glamburger. Sparkle up your day – trademark registered"

"Glamburger? What's that?"

The worker's smile got tighter, between his teeth he mumbled something like 'Is this guy for real? What kind of question is that?', then took a deep breath and talked louder. "It's our specialty, and its price is affordable. Please buy one. _Please_ "

Okay, maybe he didn't have as much practice as Syphus had supposed. Scowling at the price that meant he was going to have no more than 5 Gold in total left, Syphus caved and bought the Glamburger. The worker's grin turned nightmarishly wide, practically shouting a thank you for buying it. Weirded out, Syphus hurried to run to the table, sitting in front of Ananas and passing the Glamburger to her. She didn't take it, though, instead Ananas raised her head and looked at Syphus to the eyes. "I know what I'll do"

"Oh?"

"I will help you" Ananas said, determination sparkling in her eyes "I know it'll be dangerous, but I can help you with my Persona. We'll save everyone who goes through the same I did! And I don't mean just our friends from the village, we'll help monsters too. That's something I want to take part of, I want to protect everyone! Let me help you!"

The way her determination and will to help showed in her eyes...it' be a monumental task to convince her not to get involved. That was why, after a moment, Syphus sighed and nodded. "Good. You're in the team. For now it's just you and me, but with some luck there'll be more people later, we'll need a lot of people to reach our big objective"

"If we're going to be a team we're going to need a name!" Ananas practically started vibrating with excitement, before going 'hmmm' "Wait, what's the big objective?"

Syphus smirked and made a dramatic pause, acting enigmatically. "Why, the plan is to shatter the Barrier and free everyone" he said, watching for Ananas' reaction.

He wasn't disappointed. Ananas's eyes went wide open, and she let out a 'woooow', practically exuding admiration "We're going to shatter the Barrier? That's awesome! How are we going to do it?"

"That's...a plan in progress" Syphus said, remembering he still needed to give Alphys the pieces of Shadow Ananas' armor "But it'll involve a lot of fighting against Shadows, that's for sure"

"Ah...great" Ananas nodded "We still need a name for the team. How about-?"

"Nothing western-related would be nice"

"Aw, you're a jerk! I haven't been able to play sheriff for real since I fell down here" Ananas pouted for a second "How about 'Barrier Breakers'?"

Barrier Breakers? Well that was an on-the-nose name, and it had a bit of an infantile sound to it, but did the name of the team really matter that much? "Sure, why not?"

"Nice! That's it, we formed our team! Yeah!" Ananas stood up, accidentally hitting the table and attracting everyone's attention. The girl raised her arms to the air and shouted: "Barrier Breakers!" The restaurant, having gone silent, stared at her, and Syphus laughed awkwardly while trying to get Ananas to sit down again. Getting everyone's attention like this was a tad unsettling, he was glad he had given her the cloak. _Welcome to the club, Annie. Have fun._

Suddenly, Syphus felt a familiar warmth in his chest.

 **Ananas has officially joined you!**

 ** _Thou art I... And I am thou... Thou hast established a new bond... Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Judgement Arcana_**

 _Judgement?!_ The arcana obtained was rather intimidating and sounded rather important, and it seemed to be directly linked to the team, instead to a specific person. How was he supposed to make the Social Link grow, then? Before Syphus could continue considering that, everything around him started moving again, as if nothing had happened. Syphus looked around with confusion, caught off-guard by the Social Link, but after noticing Ananas was staring at him as if she was about to ask if there was something wrong, he made sure to hide how puzzled he felt. "Be subtle, Annie, and remember: we need to be careful. Don't go around shouting what we'll try to do"

"I promise I won't" Ananas nodded with excitement, holding back some laughter. She thought she understood the situation, and although she did feel a bit unsettled by the whole SOUL exploring and the weird Shadows things, she refused to show any apprehension. The guardian of the human village can't show fear. The guardian must be brave, and fight no matter what. That's how she thought it worked.

Syphus was feeling more nervous about having to take care of a child during this adventure, though. His track record in dealing with children in middle of journeys was...not very good. _I really, really hope she won't die..._ Ananas took the burger, staring at it with curiosity. "Hey, Syphus, what is the meat made of?"

That was actually a rather good question! And it was one Syphus had no idea how to answer. The piece shrugged. "Who knows...maybe it's snails?"

"Snails?!" Ananas dropped the burger as if it was piping hot, with expression of disgust. Syphus, not wanting to see his gold wasted, smiled soothingly.

"It was a joke. I'm sure it's nothing bad. Come on, try it"

"But I don't think there are..." she looked around, as if she was making sure there were none of those in the restaurant "...cows down here"

"Someday I'll ask, but for now just eat your Glamburger, okay?" he said. Ananas, looking like she would like nothing less than give the Glamburger to someone else, sighed and grabbed it, sequins sticking to her fingers. She bit into it, tasting the flavor with attention.

It wasn't as bad as she thought it'd be.

-ooooo-

Hippolyta had fire magic and physical attacks, was resistant to fire and was weak to electricity. It didn't sound bad, Syphus could provide the magic and healing Hippolyta lacked, he could work with that.

Not that Ananas cared very much about that. On the way back to the village she had started to try to summon her Persona even though Syphus told her it was impossible. She didn't stop, trying different poses and shouting 'Persona!' and 'Come to me, Hippolyta!'. "Why doesn't it work?" she asked after the eleventh try.

"I told you, it can only be done while inside a SOUL. Don't ask me why because I don't know"

"Oh. By the way, I want to learn to fight for real. I think I can do the very basic moves already" Even though Syphus warned her trying to fight a Shadow with punches wasn't going to end well, she insisted until Syphus caved. "Alright, I guess there's no harm in you having some fighting skills. Do you want to fight me?"

"Yes! You know how to fight?"

"I think I can defend myself" How hard could it be to defend oneself against a small eight-year-old girl like Ananas? It was more difficult than Syphus expected, that was for sure. As soon as Syphus said that, Ananas took off the cloak and hood, throwing them aside, and jumped on him, trying to tackle him. Syphus tried to stop her, holding his hands forward to catch her, but she acted quickly, grabbing his palms and pushing back. She had a surprising amount of strength for someone of her age, managing to make him step back. Ananas didn't pay attention to how his claws phased through her fists, focused on trying to push him towards the wall.

Letting her do that wasn't an option. Syphus, in a change of strategy, managed to lift her off the floor, surprising her. "W-Woah!" she yelled, flailing her legs and trying to touch the ground again. Syphus lightly threw her back, letting her fall to the floor. Ananas hit the rocks with her backside, but soon was back up on her feet and charging towards him. He prepared to repeat what he had just done, but an intelligent fighter didn't do the same thing over and over in quick succession, like Ananas was going to prove now. Instead of grappling his hands, she ducked and tackled Syphus' legs, making him lose his balance. "Gotcha!" she shouted, victorious, when Syphus fell to the floor, and got on his back, pushing down with her knees.

But despite her strength, she was just a little girl. Syphus stood up, forcing Ananas to cling to him from his neck, and tried to shake her off. Ananas held on as strongly as she could, grabbing the neck of his track jacket and resisting every movement he did. "You can't hold me down!" Syphus claimed, trying to grab her from his back, but she had expected that. To avoid getting caught she pressed herself against him, using her weight to force him to keep moving forward. Syphus stumbled across a few tunnels in Waterfall, not noticing they were starting to walk away from the safe areas without cameras Ananas and Monster Kid played at.

"Take this!" Ananas was shouting, hitting Syphus' head with her fist over and over. It was more annoying than painful, but it was enough to make Syphus raise his hands in defeat.

"Fine! I surrender. You win"

"See?" Ananas let go of Syphus' back, jumping to the floor and smiling widely "I can fight"

"It'd be better if you used a Persona. I don't think a Shadow would let you hang from their necks like that. Some of them _don't even have necks_ "

Ananas had been about to reply to that when they heard steps coming in their direction. Realizing she had stepped out of the safe areas, she yelped and hurried in direction of the Village while Syphus was too surprised to move. When Monster Kid appeared from around the corner, Syphus relaxed, hunching over in such a way it was amazing his monster illusion's head didn't hit the ground. "Oh, it's you"

"Yo! Where's Annie?"

"She is _..." ...where did she go?_ "I think she just ran away towards the Village"

"Okay! I'll find her" he didn't even step more than ten feet away when Ananas tackled him, yelling like a madwoman.

Their play fighting lasted around fifteen minutes until Monster Kid finally managed to get Ananas off him, and by then the two were too tired to go somewhere else. The three sat on rocks, Ananas wearing the cloak again. Monster Kid was briefed about Syphus the monster and Syphus the human being the same person – "Oh, uh, I already kind of...knew that? You have the same clothes, dude". Ananas avoided saying she hadn't deduced it. She put her hands on her knees and tried to change topic.

"Hey! If what happened to me ever happens to you Syphus and I will rescue you, okay?"

"You think I'll be attacked too?" Monster Kid looked around as if he expected someone to try to knock him out right now.

"It could happen-" Syphus tried to talk but Ananas drowned out what he attempted to say.

"It doesn't matter. We'll protect you if it happens, okay? That's what friends are for"

Monster Kid stared at her for a moment before a grin spread on his face. "Shucks, I...thanks. Hey! I brought something for you! It's—" he looked to the floor at his side, finding nothing "Uh—I think I left it somewhere on the way here" he apologized and left, intending to look for whatever he had intended to bring with him. While he was away, Ananas went silent, her hat obscuring her face, until she finally spoke.

"I'm happy he's my friend. I don't know what I'd have done if I hadn't ever met him...did he tell you how we met?"

"He told me a few things, but not that" Syphus said "Want to talk about that?"

"Yesterday I was thinking about that day. It had been a month since I fell, and I was _so_ bored..." she took out her gun, opening and closing the bullet chamber "Everyone had told me what'd happen to any human who went outside, that we'd be killed...so I had decided to do something about it.

I was going to fight the King"

"You what?!" Syphus shouted before realizing what he was doing. The pupils in his reptilian eyes had narrowed so much they were almost invisible against the yellow irises "What were you thinking?!"

Ananas didn't look up, focused on her gun. "I know, I know. That was bad, but that day I just...I thought it needed to be done, the King needed to be punished. I wanted to go home...so I sneaked out of the village. I got lost – Waterfall is so big, I only got to that place where MK and I play. That's where he found me"

-ooooo-

Monster Kid had never seen a monster like the one that was standing there. Was that a boy or a girl? How old were they? They weren't wearing the striped clothing kids used to wear, but they were so short. "Hello?"

"Who's there?!" the unknown monster turned around, gritting their teeth – her teeth. She seemed to be a girl. She stepped back, looking at him with distrust "What do you want?"

"Yo! Are you a kid too? Where is your striped shirt?"

"My what?" she tilted her head, her hand went to her hip. There was something attached there but he couldn't distinguish what was in that holster "Forget it. Take me to the King's castle"

"Why do you want to go there?"

"Shut up and take me to the castle! You'll do it if you know what's good for you" she was sweating heavily; Monster Kid was sure she had started to tremble "I have a gun!"

"A gun?" That just couldn't be true. Why was she so upset, anyways? Unsure if he had said something wrong, Monster Kid stepped a bit closer "Hey, why do you want to go to the castle? That's very far from here!"

"Very far? How far is it?"

"It's on the other side of Hotland. You never seen Hotland? It's like this big place full of lava, I'm not allowed to go there"

"L-Lava...?" did she get paler?

"Yeah! It fills the whole place, bubbling and bright red, and it's so hot, too. It'd be amazing if you got through without getting lost"

"I...I see..." the girl pulled the brim of her cowboy hat down, hiding her eyes. For a moment they stood there, waiting for the other to say something, until Monster Kid tried to get her to talk more.

"What's your name?"

That got the girl to look at him. After a pause she scratched her head, hesitant. "I'm the Sheriff around here, pardner, the arm of the law"

-ooooo-

"You sure know a lot about what Monster Kid felt and thought that day" Syphus commented.

Ananas smiled, a bit red. "Sometimes he and I talk about that" she stopped smiling "I had wanted to fight the King because I thought he deserved it, for wanting to kill humans...and I had thought that all monsters would be the same. Well, almost all, besides Toriel. And you know what? After playing with MK for some time I started thinking that, you know...it's not everyone's fault that the King wants to kill humans" she lowered her voice, sounding pensive "I was blaming all monsters, but then that'd mean MK wanted humans dead too, and I don't think he does. I was being unfair towards monsters. I don't know what happened in that whole war thing Toriel once told me about, but that's nothing _these_ monsters did. And also, I think...

...I think meeting MK saved my life. If he hadn't found me and I had kept going someone in the Royal Guard could have seen me, or the cameras could have caught me, and I'd have tried to fight. I could have died that day. But no, I met him, he saved me.

That is one of the reasons why I'm happy he's my friend"

 **Ananas has confided in you**

 **The Ananas Social Link has reached Rank 5!**

 **Your power to create Personas of the Chariot Arcana has grown!**

Syphus leaned against the wall, thinking. What'd have happened if Ananas had continued her way? She wasn't mistaken, it was likely she'd have been caught by some other monster. That's what had happened countless times in thousands of timelines, she always got caught while trying to go through Waterfall. "You should tell him that he saved you. I think he'd like to hear that" Ananas shook her head immediately.

"No. He's nice, but I think he'd laugh at me if I said that" _Kids, thinking the other is going to laugh when being honest to each other...what's up with that?_ "Don't tell him what I told you"

"I won't, but I think you're being kind of silly. He's going to understand"

Ananas flicked the brim of her hat upwards. She could hear Monster Kid coming back. She turned her head, whispering. "When we break the Barrier and everyone is free I'll tell him. I promise"

"I'm going to make you keep that promise, Sheriff! Don't think I won't" Syphus extended his pinky, intending to seal the promise. Ananas stared at it for a moment, unsure if she should, but she hooked her pinky, smiling.

It was a promise to be fulfilled no matter what.

-ooooo-

Alphys almost couldn't believe what she had seen. There was another human child in the Underground.

She had been repairing a smashed camera from Waterfall when the feed showed a human girl pummeling a monster. "Syphus?" she gasped, aghast. He was being attacked by a human! And...well he wasn't dead, but he was clearly losing the fight. Alphys rewinded the video feed, watching the short fight again until the moment both Syphus and the human girl got into a part of Waterfall there wasn't a camera at. The new human's fighting didn't end there, though. Alphys saw glimpses of the human girl trying to hold a monster child against the ground, the child barely managed to get her off them, before the two got away from the camera again.

Had something happened to Syphus? Could that human have killed him? Alphys watched feeds throughout Waterfall and Snowdin, but Syphus didn't appear anywhere. With trembling claws, Alphys grabbed her cellphone and looked for a number before changing her mind, dropping the cellphone on the table. It took her another two tries to gather enough courage to call Sans. "Sans i-i-it's Alphys"

"sup. you got the dvd back?"

"F-Forget the DVD! Uh, for the record, yes, I received it, b-but that's not important right now!" Alphys asked Sans to get in contact with Syphus. If there was someone who could do that it was Sans, wasn't he? Syphus had said the skeleton was their mutual friend. If something had happened to Syphus, Sans would find out. They both lived in Snowdin – right? – he was bound to know!

After a pause that only had the sounds of Sans' phalanges against the cellphone, he talked again. "you sure you saw another human?"

"Completely sure! I mean, I had seen s-someone with cowboy clothes wandering around Waterfall b-before, but that hat was in the way – I didn't think that was a human...b-but now I saw her!" Alphys switched the feed of the cameras, looking for Syphus "I think she may have killed S-Syphus!" Alphys had already planned to keep Sans informed if the human child with the striped sweater killed any monsters – Sans needed information for his judgment if the need arose, after all – but the unexpected human going rogue made chills go down her spine.

What to do, though? Should she tell Undyne? There were two humans in the Underground. No, wait, if Syphus was okay then she shouldn't tell Undyne...she'd look for the human girl. If she had done nothing wrong then...agh, what to do?

For the moment Alphys decided not to tell Undyne.

-ooooo-

In Snowdin, Sans listened, nodding every few seconds even though Alphys couldn't see it. "got it. keep me informed" he said before hanging. He sighed, shaking his head. "really now" Sans let the phone fall on the couch, and he sank more in the pillows, not making any effort to do something about the other human or about contacting Syphus. He just...would let things follow their course and not interfere.

Frisk was sitting nearby, reading the quantum physics/joke books. They looked up from it inquisitively, what was that call? Sans simply waved his hand dispiritedly "relax, kiddo. t'was nothing"

 **CHECK IN ZERO MOVES**

 ** _CHECKMATE_** **IN TWO MOVES**

* * *

 **SOCIAL LINKS:**

 **Fool - Frisk - RANK 4**

 **Magician - ? - RANK 0**

 **Priestess - Alphys - RANK 1**

 **Empress - Toriel - RANK 2**

 **Emperor - Cohen - RANK 3**

 **Hierophant - Ciruel - RANK 1**

 **Lovers - ? - RANK 0**

 **Chariot - Ananas - RANK 5**

 **Justice - ? - RANK 0**

 **Hermit - ? - RANK 0**

 **Fortune - ? - RANK 0**

 **Strength - ? - RANK 0**

 **Hanged Man - ? - RANK 0**

 **Death - Cornio - RANK 1**

 **Temperance - ? - RANK 0**

 **Devil - ? - RANK 0**

 **Tower - ? - RANK 0**

 **Star - Lucia - RANK 1**

 **Moon - ? - RANK 0**

 **Sun - Papyrus - RANK 2**

 **Judgment - Team - RANK 1**

 **Aeon - Syphus - RANK 2**

 **Jester - Alphonse - RANK 2**


	17. Calm Before the Storm

Alphonse stared at the map Cornio had given him. The witch had arrived, intending to do what Lucia had done not too long ago: give Alphonse a puzzle to solve. Cornio looked rather out of place in the Velvet Room – with his tattered clothes and his unkempt mane of hair – but Alphonse didn't mind. Igor didn't make any comments, either, all he did was stare at Cornio with interest.

Cornio was grinning like a child with a secret, barely withholding his excitement while Alphonse looked at the map. He looked like he was about to start bouncing on his seat. "So? Any ideas yet?"

"Uh...so the camera can watch from end to end of the hall, I get that. Okay, the attacker blocked the view of the camera before attacking Ananas"

Cornio sputtered rather ungraciously, holding his hands in front of his face with glee. "No. **The camera's view wasn't hindered at any point!** "

"Then it was turned off! All the attacker would have to do is turn it off and they'd be able to do whatever they wanted in that corridor"

" **Only Alphys can turn off a camera** "

"Then Alphys may have been an accomplice"

That theory made Cornio be far less amused. His grin disappeared, although he didn't lose the playful mood, it was much more subdued now. "...no. **There were no accomplices.** And Alphys wouldn't do that"

Alphonse took off their repairman cap and scratched their head, puzzled. "I don't get it...how can Ananas have been attacked without the camera seeing anyone except her?"

"I told you the attacker grabbed her with their own hands and made her fall down"

"I know! That's why I don't understand how they got away without the camera catching them"

Cornio smiled. "Magic?"

"Aw, don't say that again! That can't be the default answer for everything"

"Monster and witches can explain everything with 'magic'" Cornio seemed to be much more at ease with Alphonse than while playing the game with Lucia and Syphus. He was smiling more often, and sounded more carefree. He sank in his seat, relaxing "All witches say everything is done through magic, but there's always a solution, trust me!"

"Do you mean it?"

"There's always an explanation that doesn't involve magic! It's a cruel game, but it's supposed to be _fair_ "

Alphonse rolled up the map. "I don't get it...the first case was easier than this one. I can't solve it" But there had to be a way for the attacker to have done it, he knew it. All the clues were there. The camera, the kids' shoe, the print in the mud..." the attendant put his cap back on, thinking, until they finally managed to notice a possible way to get to an answer. "Cornio, say this: the culprit was wearing the shoe" Maybe this way they could narrow down who the attacker was! Cornio noticed too what Alphonse was trying to do, he shook his head.

"I refuse"

"What? Why?"

"I have a reason to refuse. I'm sorry"

Well that was a dead end.

-ooooo-

It had been a week since the game started and progress had been made. Two materials charged with magic had been gathered already, ten more were needed. By a rate of two per week that'd mean the Barrier would be broken after just a month and half. That wasn't too bad of a timeframe! Not as quick as some would have hoped, but it was better than having to spend a year working on this. _I really hope I didn't just jinx it._

Life was going to be deceptively simple until the next time someone was attacked. Until it happened again, he had to live a normal life, as if he was one monster more and not a witch's piece who fights with a personification of his psyche. It wasn't going to be that difficult. Having a part-time job, having to return to the village every night...it was certainly 'normal', in some ways.

It didn't mean he had forgotten he was supposed to get stronger until it was time for another trip into somebody's SOUL. The Social Links weren't going to rank up by themselves, and there were many that hadn't been started yet. Where could they be? Which ones could he improve?

Two days after the Barrier Breakers team was established, he decided to visit the MTT burger parlor before going to Snowdin to work. He didn't intend to buy anything, but that worker...could it be that he could be a Social Link? It was worth a try. Just a few minutes after the MTT-Brand Burger Emporium opened, Syphus strolled inside, going straight towards the counter.

Just like last time, the worker had been staring into space until Syphus approached, even though it had been just minutes since the place opened. The worker gave his fakest grin and recited the usual welcome spiel. What did that reptile want now, he wondered? Once he was done, Syphus leaned on the counter. "So, I was wondering something...do you know-?"

"I'm sorry, mister" the worker's smile didn't falter, but he sounded anything but apologetic "It's against company policy to talk with customers who haven't bought anything"

"...oh" Syphus looked at the menu and asked for the cheapest product he could see, which was still rather expensive. _Did I just buy a milkshake full of glitter?_ After receiving the Starfait he left it aside, he didn't come here for a Starfait. "So, what's cooking?"

The worker's eyes darted around, clearly uncomfortable. _Uh._ Syphus was starting to regret coming here to shoot the breeze. "Would you like to buy anything else, mister?"

"...no, I just wanted to talk"

The smile strained a lot, he started shaking slightly. "It's against company policy to talk with the customers"

This was quickly going nowhere. Syphus sighed, unless he salvaged this conversation, this could only end in disaster. "Want to hang out after you're done with your job?"

" _Why?"_ the worker abandoned all pretense of mild professionalism and showed how annoyed he was. "I don't even know you!"

"Oh, my bad. My name is Syphus. What's your name?" _I should have thought this through before coming here._ Syphus wasn't the only one wishing for someone to save them from this awkward conversation, judging by the worker's twitching.

"Do you have a question or anything, mister?" he said, his voice shaking. Syphus had been about to reply he had nothing to say, when he remembered a certain thing Ananas and he had been wondering for a while already.

"Now that you mention it, yeah, I do!" Syphus gestured towards a Glamburger "What are those made of?"

The worker didn't like it. The smile didn't break away, but his eye twitched before he replied to such asinine question, his voice dripping hostility. "What do you think?"

"...nevermind" that was it, better to go away before Syphus begged for the earth to swallow him. He had been about to step away when another customer approached the counter, looking at the menu.

"I'd like a Glamburger, Burgerpants"

Syphus looked at Burgerpants, who quickly gave the client the requested food item. Once the customer had gone away, Burgerpants noticed Syphus glancing at him. 'Why haven't you gone away yet' he muttered before saying aloud: "It's a _nickname_ , not my name"

"Believe it or not, I didn't think for a second that was your name" there was a very tense silence for a moment "It doesn't seem you're fond of the nickname"

Somehow, the answer was apparently unexpected to Burgerpants. Perhaps he expected Syphus to start calling him that? He froze for a moment, unsure of how to reply, before shrugging. "It doesn't really bother me, it's just a bit. You know. Annoying. But that's what everyone calls me"

"Mind if I call you 'BP'? It isn't as bad as 'Burgerpants"

Burgerpants shrugged. He didn't really care about that. This insufferable monster would get out and hopefully never return, and for that to happen Burgerpants was almost willing to let Syphus call him whatever he wanted. "That's fine"

There! Progress. May as well get moving, leave before Syphus said anything that'd ruin everything. "I'll come back some other time, BP. Sorry for bothering you"

The relief of being freed from this badly done social interaction flooded Burgerpants. "I, uh, I'm sorry for being rude. I didn't want to be reprimanded" the worker blurted before realizing what he had said. Mentally berating himself for what sounded way more welcoming than he actually felt, he sighed and resigned himself to being hassled by a customer "It is against company policy to talk with the customers"

"You're really patient, you know. I'd have snapped already if I were you!"

"Talking to you was better than. You know. Staring at the ceiling" Burgerpants moved around awkwardly "But I think you should leave"

"Fine" The situation was barely salvaged, it could all have gone much better. Before he could step away he did feel the familiar warmth of a Social Link being established. _Yes!_

 **Burgerpants has begrudgingly accepted your presence.**

 **You feel a faint bond forming between you and Burgerpants.**

 ** _Thou art I... And I am thou... Thou hast established a new bond... Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Magician Arcana_**

Mission accomplished. Syphus hadn't been sure if Burgerpants was a good option for a Social Link, but now that it had been achieved it wasn't like he had any other option than nurturing that Social Link the best he could. He wasn't sure how, and Burgerpants wasn't exactly the most amicable person to ever exist, but Syphus was willing to try.

"See you someday, BP" It was possible Syphus wasn't going to return tomorrow, or the day after that, so maybe it was for the better to leave it vague and come by surprise whenever it was time. Burgerpants nodded and didn't bother to look at Syphus, instead falling once again in the same usual boredom. _Well, that was almost a trainwreck, but beggars can't be choosers_ Syphus thought, exiting the restaurant.

-ooooo-

Despite how many times Syphus had worked at Grillby's, the Royal Guard dogs didn't get any calmer. All of them still were very wary of him, looking at him while he cleaned around. "It's odd. Usually they don't fear anyone" the red bird had commented.

"I hadn't even talked to them before working here!"

"Relax. Surely it's a misunderstanding" the bird took his glass, drinking it in one gulp "You smell like a human? That'd explain it"

Syphus stopped scrubbing a particularly tough stain, glad he was facing the floor or the bird would have seen the uncomfortable expression of his face. "How exactly would that explain it?"

"The dogs once said there has been this weird smell around town since a year ago"

"...I wasn't around here a year ago. It's not me" And no way it was Frisk. It was more likely it was Ciruel, going around with his fake antlers and his makeup. It had been a relief that Snowdin and the Royal Guard stationed there were rather accepting of Frisk, but Syphus really doubted they'd appreciate the presence of a second human, especially an adult.

As if they had been waiting right for that moment to move, all the dogs suddenly raised their snouts, sniffing the air. Two of them – Lesser Dog and Dogamy – went to the door, sticking their noses outside and looking in direction of the skeletons' house. After a few seconds Dogamy exhaled, shaking his head.

"...the child again" Syphus heard him whisper once he returned to the table with Lesser Dog. Lesser Dog was tilting their head, looking a bit confused.

"You sure? The smell is different" Doggo bit into the dog biscuit he had in his mouth.

"It has to be them. There's no other human around here"

Syphus plopped the rag on the counter, wiping his hands on his jacket. It had to be Ciruel. He had to be with Papyrus right now. "Boss, can I go on break?"

"...go ahead"

Fifteen minutes, that's all he was given, but that was enough. As soon as Grillby gave his approval Syphus went to the door, hurrying towards Sans and Papyrus' house. He knocked on the door, pounding it with his fist. "Hey! Papyrus! We need to talk!" There was no answer from inside the house. Syphus had been about to try to peek through a window when the door of the shed opened, Papyrus peeking outside.

"OVER HERE! FOLLOW MY VOICE!" Papyrus waved. Syphus entered the shed, disabling the firefly brooch, while Papyrus left the shed and closed the door. Right there, underneath a window patched up with duct tape and a wooden plank, was Ciruel, his face covered with that purple gunk he used as a disguise. The former scholar greeted with his head, focused on what he was writing.

"Please be silent, I'm in middle of something here" he said. Syphus didn't really have time to wait for Ciruel to finish, though. He approached, looking outside the broken window.

"The dogs know. If they catch you – I don't know what'll happen, _don't let them catch you_ " he said, talking faster than usual. Ciruel didn't seem worried at all, nodding and making 'hmhm' noises as if Syphus had said something completely unimportant.

"I'll be fine. You don't have to worry about me"

"That's—that's all you have to say?"

"I have been coming and going for a year already, I can take care of myself"

He had a bit of a point there. Ciruel wouldn't have survived until now if he wasn't careful or smart. It wasn't going to stop Syphus from worrying about Ciruel, but it wasn't like the scholar would accept anyone trying to limit his actions. "How have you been avoiding being caught, anyways? I doubt putting branches on your head is enough"

"I have my ways. Never had to deal with those dogs, though" Ciruel pushed his glasses higher up his nose "Hey, read this and tell me if it sounds right" Syphus took the notebook and read what Ciruel had written. _What's this...?_ Whatever Syphus had imagined it sure wasn't this.

It was a recipe for spaghetti, and not a very good one. Syphus was by no means an expert cook, but he was pretty sure that making spaghetti didn't involve setting the stove on fire. "Papyrus is learning cooking and I'm the official taster. He made me credentials" Ciruel flashed a card that proclaimed him as Papyrus' aide in the kitchen, all said in the most endearing terms Syphus could imagine.

Right then Papyrus opened the door, bringing a few pots full of spaghetti. "HERE IT IS! THE LATEST BATCHES OF MASTER CHER PAPYRUS' HOMECOOKED PASTA!" he slammed the pots on the table, beaming with pride. Ciruel stood up from the floor and slowly walked to the table, looking into the pots with appraising expression. After a few seconds of watching, he stuck his face almost to the rim of one of the pots, taking a deep breath.

"Hmmmmm...no smell at all. That's an improvement"

"Improvement?" Syphus raised his eyebrows.

"Last batch had a, uh, unflattering aroma" Ciruel gestured vaguely, taking a fork from one of the pots "Alright, Paps, ready to take notes?"

"I'M READY FOR THE VERDICT!"

Ciruel spun the fork in the pasta and raised it. His face curled into a slight expression of disgust. The pasta was almost melting. "Paps, did you hold it to the fire before placing it in the pot?"

"YES! JUST LIKE WE AGREED"

"I think we made a big mistake"

"HERE, SYPHUS! YOU GET TO TASTE MY COOKING TOO" Papyrus pushed the pot towards Syphus, who gingerly took some of the spaghetti. After glancing at Papyrus, who was staring at Syphus with a hopeful grin, Syphus put the pasta in his mouth.

He regretted it mere seconds later. The spaghetti was terribly chewy yet it felt like a lot of powder had suddenly filled his mouth. Syphus held back coughing, not having expected the lack of quality of Papyrus' cooking. "I-I see...alright" Syphus murmured with raspy voice.

"IS IT GOOD?"

"It is..." Syphus swallowed, trying not to shudder. Papyrus was looking at him with excitement, his eye sockets almost sparkling from the illusion of hearing praise for his cooking. How to tell the truth to someone looking at him with such joy? Syphus cleared his throat and smiled weakly "It's fantastic!"

Papyrus gasped rather exaggeratedly, sounding as if he was about to explode from joy. "REALLY?! WOWIE! CIRUEL, I DID IT!"

"Let me see" Ciruel put a forkful of spaghetti in his mouth. His face immediately turned sour, almost resembling a raisin. He dropped the fork and held his head in his hand for a moment.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK?"

"It's _awful._ Two out of ten"

"Ciruel!" Syphus blurted out, horrified. Ciruel had said that in such blunt tone Syphus couldn't stop himself from shouting in protest. Papyrus wasn't the slightest bit offended, though. The skeleton let out a 'A FAILED ATTEMPT!' and took that pot away, getting another one on the table.

"HERE YOU GO. UNDYNE HELPED ME WITH THIS ONE!"

"Did she punch the tomatoes again?" the corners of Ciruel's mouth twitched upwards.

"SHE DID! THIS IS OUR COLLABORATION" Papyrus seemed much happier announcing this one than the one he had made by himself. Ciruel took the fork and sampled the spaghetti, choking almost immediately. He held his hand against his mouth until he swallowed.

The former scholar sighed heavily, shaking his head. "I'm sorry, Paps. Another two out of ten"

"OH. I THOUGHT THIS WAS THE GOOD ONE!"

"It's a bit of an improvement, but not enough"

The other two pots didn't fare much better, although one registered an uptick in Ciruel's approval scale. Papyrus was elated when he heard 'three out of ten' - "SUCCESS! JUST AS EXPECTED!". Despite the bluntness of his criticism and how stoic he was during the tasting, once it was done Ciruel lightened up considerably, with a joyful attitude one would have expected from a child, not from a thirty-something man. Papyrus and he discussed how to attempt to improve the paste cooking a bit more, talking quickly and loudly. _They seem to be good friends...can't say I expected that!_ Once Papyrus left the shed, leaving behind one of the failed pots, Syphus approached Ciruel.

"Don't you think you're being a bit tough with Papyrus?"

"Tough? No, not at all. It's my sincere opinion"

"He was so proud about what he cooked, you could have softened the blow"

Ciruel was silent for a moment. He grabbed the pot Papyrus left behind, staring into it. "Papyrus isn't going to improve at all if he keeps being told what he does is excellent without that being true"

"Still, saying it was awful was harsh"

"Do you think so badly of Papyrus you think he can't take a little bit of criticism? Now _that'_ s insulting" Ciruel scowled "Papyrus isn't some kind of child for you to mince words" Ciruel stuck his hand into the pot, slathering it with sauce, and started rubbing his hand over his neck and the back of his head. That should help disguise his smell, just in case the dogs were paying attention "My father used to say something:

Your best effort is worth nothing if it doesn't produce the best results.

I believe in that. Papyrus may be doing his best, but he can do even better. I just want to help him with that"

 **You feel you understand Ciruel a bit more.**

 **The Ciruel Social Link has reached Rank 2!**

 **Your power to create Personas of the Hierophant Arcana has grown!**

Ciruel continued covering himself with sauce, looking a bit uncomfortable with the slightly burnt smell emanating from it. _Okay...Ciruel isn't wrong, but still_... "I still think you could have been a bit less blunt about it"

"Come on! Why do you want me to coddle Paps?" Ciruel looked away, his already cloudy glasses turning opaque. He even sounded slightly bitter. "I'm not going to, no matter what you say"

It was useless to try to argue with Ciruel on this, that much was obvious now. While Ciruel's persevering nature influenced him Syphus felt there was something else going on, something tinging Ciruel's behavior. He'd have liked to try to find out, but given the fifteen minutes Grillby had allowed were almost over, he had to leave right now. "Fine. Just be careful, okay? If something happens to you—"

"I know. Trust me, I'll be okay _" I'm going to hold you onto that promise._ Just in case, as soon as Syphus stepped outside he made a SAVE point. If Ciruel died he was going to return and escort him back to the village, even if he had to drag Ciruel by the neck of his ugly sweater all the way to the depths of Waterfall.

-ooooo-

Alphys was the Royal Scientist, but that didn't mean there wasn't anything that could stump her. This glass, for example. She had examined it in every way she could think yet she hadn't found out how exactly it had so much magic inside, or why. What was stranger was that although the readings showed the glass was so full of magic, accessing it was rather difficult. That didn't discourage her, though. It was a challenge, and although Alphys wasn't into challenges as much as Undyne, this was interesting enough for her to want to work with it.

And then Syphus came by during the evening, bringing her what seemed to be pieces of armor, some of them just as filled with magic as the glass. A couple pieces even had more. "O-Okay, where are you finding this stuff?"

"You know, around. These were in Waterfall" Syphus had said.

It was a relief that Syphus was alive. As soon as Alphys saw him, she blurted out 'are you alive?' and then hid her face behind her claws because who asks that?

"Yeah, I am. Why wouldn't I be?"

"S-So, um...do you remember...meeting a human?"

"Not really" Syphus tilted his head "I think I'd have noticed if I had"

He was lying. There was no way he wasn't lying. Unless there was more than one snake monster with limbs and feathers in the Underground, it had to be Syphus. He had the same clothes, the same colors, everything was just like the monster she had seen attacked by that girl dressed like a cowboy. Alphys left him enter the Laboratory and took the pieces of armor, turning them around in her claws. "What do you want me to do with these?"

"Can you combine them with the stuff I gave you last time? I was thinking about a..." Syphus extended his hands in a straight line from side to side "A weapon that could pierce the Barrier. You know, something sharp!"

"Oh! I can do something like that!" Alphys cheered up a bit. She had immediately thought of a spear "I-I'll start drawing the specs later, you keep bringing materials. Now..." Alphys put the armor away "Syphus, are you sure you d-don't remember a human?"

Syphus faced Alphys but his eyes looked to a side. "Completely sure. Why do you ask?"

"I want you t-to watch this" Alphys went towards the large screen and picked up a few discs and tapes. She grabbed the right one, the one that showed the human girl's attack on him, but all she did was stare at it, unsure. Why did Syphus deny it? She didn't understand, it was a lie that could be easily debunked, he knew that, right? There had to be a reason for him to lie so transparently! And if there was a reason...was it really a good idea to confront him? It was bad enough that Sans hadn't made the slightest effort to tell her Syphus hadn't died at the hands of a human – thanks a lot, Sans – she didn't want to get into more unneeded trouble. Things were complicated enough already; she didn't need to add worries about people she didn't even know well.

A few seconds passed, Alphys staring at the box intently. "Hmmm...is everything okay?" Syphus asked.

"Oh? Oh! I-I'm fine. I just...got distracted" Alphys turned around, hiding the disc with her body, and looked around "I left this disc outside of its box, give me a second" Alphys took the case of the DVD Syphus had returned not too long ago, taking out the anime DVD and putting inside the disc with the recording of the human girl attacking. That'd keep it out of his reach. "I wanted you to watch this! It's a good anime, I think you'd like it"

"...anime?" the feathered snake monster looked at a side with reluctant expression while Alphys started to sweat. He didn't sound interested at all. For a moment Alphys panicked, her mind immediately going 'oh god, I shouldn't have said anything' several times, until Syphus looked at her without turning her head around. The visible yellow eye focusing on her showed a lot of doubt "What's it about?"

"I...uh...it's called...Mew Mew Kissy Cutie and...it's very good" Alphys smiled nervously "Y-You should give it a chance, you'll l-like it"

"Yeah, but what's it about?" Syphus repeated, finally turning his head and looking at her with stony expression. Alphys took air, ready to explain her favorite anime.

"I'll try not to give you spoilers, but here I go...the main character is a human w-with cat ears, and she..." it wasn't long before she launched into a very extensive speech about the anime, taking faster with every word, to the point where Syphus had difficulty following her train of thought. Plots, chapters, names of characters, events, it all mixed together in a litany he just didn't understand. It was a bit amazing how Alphys was able to say all that without stopping for air for long.

After a couple minutes of Alphys explaining extensively while Syphus stared, dumbfounded, she finally stopped, huffing for air. "...and that is...Mew Mew Kissy Cutie...so you want to watch it?"

Syphus stuck his claws in his pockets and shrugged. "Sure, why not? You lead the way, Alphys"

What started for Alphys as a mere way to distract Syphus and hide that she was going to show him something turned into genuine enjoyment for her. Once the DVD was inserted in the machine and the anime started she relaxed considerably, watching it with happiness. Syphus, seated nearby, stared at the screen, looking more confused than anything else. _I don't understand anime_. After around ten minutes Alphys seemed to remember she had a guest. "I watch this often with Undyne...we like the plot"

"Captain Undyne of the Royal Guard?"

"Yeah, she is my, uh...my best friend?" It wasn't anything further than that yet, much to her disappointment "We watch anime a couple times per week" there was a very subtle red glow in Alphys' face, one she tried to hide. It wasn't like more people needed to know about her crush on Undyne.

The captain's tastes on entertainment were old news for Syphus, but he feigned ignorance. He smirked, amused "Undyne didn't seem to me like the type to like anime!"

"She does! Especially if it has a good fight...and sometimes p-princesses!" Alphys leaned forward, her eyes watching the TV screen with attention "I-I'm sure if you ask her she'll tell you some good a-anime..." they watched the screen in silence for a few minutes more before Alphys stammered something else "B-But yeah, you wouldn't guess Undyne likes anime, just by looking at her..."

"Ah, that's how people are"

"W-Well, yes, but if you asked Undyne if she liked anime she'd reply something like..." Alphys clenched her fists "'NGAAAH! So what if I do?!'" she enjoyed that private moment of amusement, judging by the way she was holding her face in bliss "And I like that of her, she'd reply without fear immediately...not like me"

Syphus frowned. "I thought you were proud of watching anime"

"I am! And I'd tell anyone who asks if I like anime, but...but Undyne feels a lot more confident about that than me. And sometimes when I think about it I realize that...that I don't deserve her attention and friendship..."

The piece slammed a hand against the side of his seat, startling Alphys with the loud noise. "What are you talking about?! You're overthinking it. Alphys, you're no lesser than anyone, not even Undyne"

"Really?" Alphys didn't sound convinced at all.

"I'm serious. Why'd you even think that?"

"...I have...many reasons to think it...no, to know I'm lesser than her..."

 **You saw a glimpse of some of Alphys' insecurities**

 **The Alphys Social Link has reached Rank 2!**

 **Your power to create Personas of the Priestess Arcana has grown!**

It was a rather depressing thought, and Alphys wasn't able to immerse herself in the anime. After several minutes of staring blankly at the TV without realizing what she was seeing, she shook her head and stood up from the couch. "Sorry, I can't focus on this tonight...would you...please leave?"

Syphus frowned. "Are you okay?" _Did I say something bad?_

"...no. Just leave, p-please..."

It was useless to try to talk with her right now. For a moment Syphus considered LOADing to undo the last few hours, even if it cost him the rank up with Alphys' Social Link, but that was a bad reason to LOAD. If he rewinded the timeline every time a social interaction with anyone didn't go okay, he'd be stuck in the first few days, never progressing. Syphus simply stood up and exited the Laboratory after saying his farewell.

Alphys didn't even watch him leave. She had blurted out a lot of ridiculous stuff, hadn't she? Why had she said anything about that? In times like these she'd just lie on her bed and eat ice cream in her pajamas, but she didn't feel like doing that. Thirty minutes later, right when she was going to retire to her bedroom to try to sleep, her phone started to ring. "Who...?" she grabbed it, seriously considering not answering. Such thoughts were thrown away when she realized it was Undyne. "H-Hello, Undyne..."

"Alphys! Still up for watching something fun tonight?"

Oh. Right. Alphys slapped herself, she completely forgot tonight Undyne was supposed to come! And she had told Syphus about that, how could she have forgotten? "S-Sorry, Undyne...I'm not feeling well tonight"

"What?!" Alphys had barely said the final syllable when Undyne shouted that into the phone, forcing her to separate the phone from her head a bit "Are you sick? I'm on my way"

"You don't have to, Undyne..." Alphys said, grinning to herself bashfully. It wasn't like she was going to try too hard to stop Undyne. Surely she was already running as fast as possible towards Hotland. She may hate that part of the Underground, but she endured it if it meant coming to the Lab. Indeed, she arrived to the place in matter of minutes.

Once Undyne arrived Alphys had to tell her that things weren't grave at all, and that there wasn't really a need for her to make the effort of coming all the way here. Not that it stopped Undyne from declaring she was going to stay for a while, if only to make sure Alphys was going to be fine. Alphys, cheered up from everything she had told to Syphus, simply relaxed and let Undyne do whatever she wished. That was the mistake.

Wanting to make Alphys feel better, Undyne took the Mew Mew Kissy Cutie DVD case. "Come over here, we're going to watch the one you like the most" she said, inserting the disc into the DVD player. When Alphys entered, there was the human girl in cowboy clothes, slamming a monster over and over with her fist. Undyne was staring at the screen, not having expected to see it...but it was undeniable. That was a human in the Underground.

"U-Undyne...?" Alphys tried to get her attention. Mentally she was kicking herself for forgetting about the disc, there was no way she'd be able to pass this as anything but what it seemed to be.

"Did you know about this?" Undyne asked, the eye uncovered by the eye-patch glaring at the screen. That human girl was attacking Monster Kid too! Alphys gulped and lied without even realizing that was her first reaction.

"No! I didn't know"

Undyne glanced at Alphys, she saw she believed her lie without a shred of doubt. Once Alphys realized she had just lied, she opened her mouth to try to explain herself, but no words came out. Not that Undyne gave her time for that. She immediately left the Lab before Alphys could stop her, walking away with celerity.

That place...Undyne had recognized which part of Waterfall that was. So there may be a human nearby? That video was from the day before; the human could be far away! But nobody had alerted her about the presence of a human, it was unlikely she had gotten into Hotlands or into Snowdin. No, the human had to still be in Waterfall.

First things first: gather backup. Humans were tough, and that girl had attacked monsters already. Usually Undyne would confront the human by herself, but this was going to be her first time fighting a real human. Making a mistake would be too dangerous, she couldn't allow that! What'd happen to the Underground if she failed to acquire the first human SOUL?

No, this was the start of monsterkind's liberation from their imprisonment, and all first steps needed to be flawless. She'd gather a few guards more and explore the area with them.

She'd find that human girl.

* * *

 **SOCIAL LINKS:**

 **Fool - Frisk - RANK 4**

 **Magician - Burgerpants - RANK 1**

 **Priestess - Alphys - RANK 2**

 **Empress - Toriel - RANK 2**

 **Emperor - Cohen - RANK 3**

 **Hierophant - Ciruel - RANK 2**

 **Lovers - ? - RANK 0**

 **Chariot - Ananas - RANK 5**

 **Justice - ? - RANK 0**

 **Hermit - ? - RANK 0**

 **Fortune - ? - RANK 0**

 **Strength - ? - RANK 0**

 **Hanged Man - ? - RANK 0**

 **Death - Cornio - RANK 1**

 **Temperance - ? - RANK 0**

 **Devil - ? - RANK 0**

 **Tower - ? - RANK 0**

 **Star - Lucia - RANK 1**

 **Moon - ? - RANK 0**

 **Sun - Papyrus - RANK 2**

 **Judgment - Team - RANK 1**

 **Aeon - Syphus - RANK 2**

 **Jester - Alphonse - RANK 2**


	18. BAD END

**Every game has stakes, and this one's stakes are way more than mere bragging rights.**

* * *

The Royal Guard weren't considered by many a large group Their standards were strict, meant to be the composed by the very best guardians the Underground had to offer. Including Undyne, there were only forty-eight guards, all of them under the command of the King and the Queen of All Monsters, and although since quite some time ago there were divisions and dissensions among its members, all of them had the same goal in mind: the well-being and protection of monsterkind. So what if half of the Royal Guard supported Toriel and her orders more than Asgore? So what if those people reported only to Toriel and refused to follow Undyne's orders without talking about them with Toriel first? Undyne knew there were people loyal to her and Asgore, and it's to them that she'd ask their help.

"Listen up! There's a human in the Underground!" she started, shouting loudly to rouse up the few guards selected "This is our chance!"

"Uh...Captain, are you positive there's a human?" 046 asked, raising a paw.

"I saw her myself!" Undyne's emphatic reply made the five guards stand up straight. If Undyne said she saw a human, then there was no room for mistake "And she's dangerous. We must stop her before she hurts any more innocent monsters!"

025 shuddered, her armor clanking "N-No way!"

"She attacked an adult, she also attacked a _child_!" Undyne stomped on the ground, bits of stone scattering "We are going to stop her _TONIGHT_!" Her sentiment was echoed by the guards. A human - a dangerous one, to boot...of course she had to be stopped! The number of monsters a dangerous human, one truly aiming to kill, could be staggering. It was their duty to find her and make sure she wouldn't be able to hurt anyone else! All the guards present grabbed their weapons, psyching themselves up.

"Where is she, Captain? Tell us!" 027 demanded to know. Undyne, liking the guard's will and desire to get moving, grinned widely.

"Follow me! To Waterfall!"

It didn't take long for the six guards to arrive to the place where Undyne had seen the human girl at. There seemed to be nothing abnormal around. The rocks, the murmur of water, everything was normal. There wasn't even a bit of dust that could hint where a couple monsters died. Undyne grit her teeth, that just meant the water must have cleaned the remains of those monsters, or someone had taken It to their families! "Start looking! She must be nearby!"

"But if she was here yesterday then she must have gotten away. We must alert the King!" 023 proposed. Undyne knew he had a point, if that girl had gotten away from Waterfall then she must be trying to get to the Barrier...and through Asgore. She didn't want to say anything yet to the King, though. If the human girl was nearby there was no need to possibly cause panic in the capital.

"We're looking around first" she said in a tone that showed there was no room for argument. Undyne formed a magic spear and pointed with it towards the depths of Waterfall "This is the place where the human was seen. Start searching! Look under every rock, don't let anything go unchecked! Get moving, everyone!"

And they did. The six guards Undyne took with her did their best to look around, trying to find anything that could indicate where the human girl had gone to. Nobody, not even Undyne, seriously thought the human was hiding behind any random rock, but they all were hoping to find any sign of where she could have gone.

01 and 02 were the ones who managed to find what Undyne had hoped to see. "Over here" 02 said, entering a corridor where luminescent mushrooms hung from the ceiling and littered the floor. The two of them slowly traversed the corridor, looking around with attention, until 01 found the crevice.

"Bro? You think the human went down here?" 01 laid on the floor to try to peer into the crevice, finding a hole at the bottom. 02 shrugged in response, but it was a possible way. Reporting it to Undyne was the right thing to do, though, she immediately followed them to the crevice, followed by 025.

"Good job" Undyne praised, clapping 02 on the back with a lot of force, something the stoic dragon took without even reacting. 025, being the smallest guard, descended into the crevice to see how far it went.

"There's a tunnel, captain! It's dark, but it goes on and on!"

"Keep walking, quick!" Undyne ordered. 025's metallic steps vanished into the distance. The rest of the guards waited, not saying anything beyond exchanging unsure glances. This could be nothing; or this could be just what they were looking for. The hardest part was to wait. Undyne had a tense expression, clenching and unclenching her fists, until after a couple minutes the steps started approaching. 025 was running, judging by how quick her steps sounded. "Ca-Captain, you won't believe this!"

"Is she there?"

"I didn't see her, but – I saw a human...I think there's more than one here. They even have a tiny village over there!"

Undyne could only stare, both baffled and surprised. There was no pleasure or joy, it was more like for a moment she didn't know what to do. More than one human? How...how did many humans settle down in the Underground? How long had they been around? Should she have noticed something?

But this wasn't the time for thinking, it was time for moving. Undyne would leave the thinking for later, what mattered now was that this was their chance to obtain SOULs. "01, 02, you two stay here. Stop anyone who tries to go in or out of this tunnel. If a human comes by, defeat them"

"Right, captain"

"Yes"

Undyne turned to everyone else "The rest of us will go inside. Follow me! We're ending this tonight!"

-ooooo-

It was late in the night when the attack to the Hidden Village happened.

Mere hours earlier the thought that soon they'd all be attacked hadn't even crossed Syphus' mind. He had felt sure this place was well hidden, that no monster would find them. He had gone to sleep at Cohen's cabin, just like he had done many nights before, he made a SAVE point and went to sleep. It wasn't until someone started hitting the door very loudly that he woke up.

"...hmmmmm...?" he sat on his mattress, rubbing his eyes "Who is it?"

"Wake up and escape!" someone shouted before running away. It was Byssa, he recognized her voice. Syphus stood up, rather groggy, and slowly walked to the door, not realizing how bad the situation was. Only when he opened the door and stepped outside he realized what was going on: The Royal Guard had found the village.

It didn't seem like a battalion or anything had come. Instead there were just five or six monsters around. In normal circumstances they wouldn't be a match for a group of humans truly determined to fight back. The humans could even kill them, if they felt it was necessary to survive! The problem was that none of the humans of the Hidden Village _wanted_ to kill monsters. That, coupled with how the Royal Guard had arrived during the night and caught the humans by surprise, gave the monsters an advantage they wouldn't have otherwise, advantage that'd prove to be decisive.

There were no dog monsters. All monsters had armors, covering them enough for Syphus to be unable to be sure what they were like. All of the attackers had the same black and dark blue armor, fitted with fins, space for ears, everything so the monsters inside would be comfortable. There were more important matters than knowing for sure what the monsters looked like, though. Syphus yelped and rushed back inside the cabin, looking around frantically. _The halberd! Where's the halberd?!_ It was there, beside the mattress. Syphus took it and inhaled noisily, steeling himself. Could the situation be salvaged?

Syphus rushed outside the cabin, holding the halberd high, so rattled and scared he completely forgot about the firefly brooch and the illusion it carried. All the guards saw him as one human more, just that this one held a dangerous weapon with him. The piece took a look around, evaluating the situation.

A couple guards were kicking down the door to one of the cabins – Celia's cabin – while Byssa tried to stop them, shouting and attempting to attack them. She wasn't a spring chicken anymore, although she jumped and tried to kick as ferociously as possible, the monsters dodged her with ease, until one of them decided to stop her. "Ah...heeelp!" she screamed once the guard pointed their sword at her, a thin magic bullet coming out of it and crossing the air towards Byssa. The woman barely managed to avoid it before jumping behind Celia's cabin, disappearing from sight. The guard who continued kicking the door finally tore it open, a violent CRACK echoing in the cavern.

"Stop that!" Syphus shouted, running towards Celia's cabin, but before he could get there an irregularly-shaped magic bullet flew right in front of his face, stopping him in his tracks. Another guard had seen them, having heard Syphus' shout, and was arriving to stop him, aiming at the halberd to knock it off Syphus' hands. The monster missed, and Syphus saw no more option than run away. _Where's everyone else?! Graham, Annie, Cohen, where are them?! He looked around frantically._ Over there! There was Ciruel.

Ciruel was running towards the exit of the village, jumping up the wooden staircase as fast as he could. Ananas was near it, screaming like a madwoman and holding her gun, aiming at the guard coming at her. She wasn't trying to shoot, though. Her fingers trembled, she looked like she was about to faint. And to a side, right near to the sentry station...Cohen laid on the floor, limp and seemingly uninjured. He had been the first and only human so far to be defeated, that much was clear: the monster right beside him was holding an orange SOUL. The armor, the red plume on her helmet, it all made her unmistakable.

"HOW _DARE_ YOU?!" Syphus screamed at Undyne, running towards her, seeing red. She had done it, she had killed Cohen. It was to be expected the guardian of the village would be the first to fall, but that didn't mean he deserved it. Syphus jumped forward, raising the halberd high, but Undyne wasn't worried at all. She grinned and stepped back, cradling the orange SOUL in one hand. Dodging the halberd strike was very easy, she identified Syphus as an amateur.

"Yeah, now we're talking! Raise that halberd of yours, you'll fight _me_!" she seemed way more excited than she should be, in Syphus' opinion. The piece merely growled, shuddering in anticipation of what he expected to be an even fight.

It was nothing like an even fight. The combination of the late hour and his lack of skill worked against him. Undyne was a well-trained and strong soldier, the Captain of the Royal Guard, while Syphus wasn't neither in top shape nor knew how to use a halberd effectively. Undyne was nothing like the Shadows, too.

Undyne made a spear, swinging it in Syphus' direction and turning his SOUL green. It was now impossible for him to run away, and although he wasn't given a spear to defend himself, Undyne expected him to use the halberd as a shield. "Take this!" small arrows formed around, zooming towards Syphus, forcing him to interrupt any attempt to reach Undyne, instead having to block the arrows.

Arrows impacted against the halberd. Syphus managed to stop the first barrage, and then dashed forward, directing the spike of the halberd towards Undyne. She stopped grinning and raised an arm, intending to block the spike with her armor. Right before the spike made contact, Syphus felt himself losing the intent he had about hurting Undyne. No, he couldn't do that...he wasn't in this place to kill. He couldn't kill...right?

The doubts greatly diminished any attack power Syphus had. The spike clashed against Undyne's armored arm, a metallic noise echoing. Undyne winced and stepped back, conjuring more arrows in the air.

"Wait! I'll help!" Ananas tried to approach, but the guard she had been dealing with – 027 – stuck her sword into the ground, magic bullets shaped like leaves erupting in front of Ananas, stopping her. Syphus glanced for a second before focusing back in his own fight. That moment was enough for Undyne, taking advantage of this mistake to summon several spears in the air.

With a cry of war, the spears whooshed through the air towards Syphus, forcing him to move. Dodging every single spear was unlikely for someone like him, who not only was a full-grown adult instead of a small child, he also wasn't as nimble. Some of the spears touched him, sending a strange painful sensation throughout his body, focusing into his chest. The small piece of SOUL that gave him an identity felt the brunt of the magic attack, half of his HP disappearing immediately. _I can't let myself die...!_

Undyne was relentless. Noticing her attacks did manage to make a dent in Syphus' health, she turned his SOUL green again, forcing him to defend himself against more small arrows. She hated the thought of playing with one's foe, what she wanted to do was wear Syphus down until he'd be defeated as quick as possible. Undyne wasn't some kind of sadist, even if her intent was to obtain a SOUL she didn't want to make things longer unnecessarily. All of her thoughts were focused on trying to touch Syphus with any of the bullets again.

The moment his SOUL returned to normal, Syphus lunged forward, aiming with the blade of his halberd to Undyne's shoulder. Undyne would have been more than capable to dodge it, but she felt confident. The blow of the halberd did hurt, but she didn't falter, a loud clank of metal against metal resounding. Syphus, emboldened, tried to swing the halberd from a side, but she wasn't going to let him hit her again. She caught the halberd in her left hand. In a second he pulled from it, dragging Syphus towards her. The piece yelped, surprised, and barely had time to react when Undyne's right fist swung towards him.

She hit him right in the solar plexus. Syphus was thrown in the air and crashed against the rock wall, falling in a heap on the ground, coughing. Everything hurt, he wanted nothing more than lie down and rest, but that wasn't an option. Undyne sighed. "That's enough. You fought valiantly but losing isn't an option for me"

"I won't...lose..." Syphus coughed, wheezing for breath, and buried the bottom of the halberd pole between the rocks, using it to stand up. It took him a whole minute, more than enough time for Undyne to have attacked again, but she didn't. She was looking at him with a strange mix of concern and a stoic determination to defeat him. Syphus bared his teeth, trying to ignore his aching body, and clutching the halberd. "Give back...g-give that SOUL..." Instead of replying, the Captain of the Royal Guard swung her spear, the arrows appearing again, all of them above him. Seven, eight, nine arrows descended in a row. Blocking them was easy, Syphus raised the halberd and blocked them all with the pole of the halberd. Each time an arrow made contact, the bamboo creaked, each arrow causing more and more damage, until it broke.

The bamboo, not resisting the constant hits on the same place, snapped in half. Syphus felt a knot of dread inside him, pieces of bamboo fell on him. " _Nooo_!" Syphus howled, dropping the pieces of his broken weapon and cowering against the wall.

"It's over" Undyne said before several large magic spears materialized around her, aiming at Syphus. Syphus could only stare, defeated, before all the spears came crashing down on him. Not a single one made a wound, all of them pierced and went through him without leaving a mark. All his HP depleted, unable to withstand the assault. What happened next happened in the span of a second or two, but to Syphus it felt much longer than that.

It was the strangest sensation Syphus had ever experienced. He felt numb, no pain at all. Slowly, as if he didn't understand what was going on, he stumbled forward, dazed. His vision started to fade, soon he felt strangely light, while he faintly realized he was turning pitch black, all of him. The tiny red piece of SOUL given to him by the witch he belonged to came out of him while he fell to the floor, the SOUL shattered without leaving a trace.

And during all that, Ananas screamed with horror, seeing it all happen.

Syphus didn't even reach the floor before he vanished in a puff of black smoke and red particles, like any lesser Shadow.

 _..._

 _..._

 _..._

 _The goal had been achieved. After centuries of imprisonment, monsterkind finally had the necessary SOULs to be freed. The Royal Guard's efforts provided of seven SOULs, taken to King Asgore before the night ended. Despite it being the early hours of the morning, the word about the SOULs spread throughout the Underground almost immediately. Everyone gathered at New Home, wanting to see with their own eyes how the Barrier would be shattered once and for all._

 _The King didn't take the SOULs immediately, and although the Queen was told the SOULs had been obtained, she never arrived to New Home to see it by herself. It took a lot of convincing by Undyne for Asgore to decide to use the SOULs. Everyone gathered at the capital gasped at the sight of their king turned god. It was the most intimidating and the most wonderful sight they had ever witnessed._

 _Asgore raised his trident and, with a single move, he broke the Barrier. The noise was monumental, heard in every corner of the Underground, and after it vanished for a moment everyone was silent. Nobody could believe freedom was so close, but it was true...they were free. Astonishment turned into euphoria, all monsters hurried back to their homes to share the news and prepare to leave the Underground. During the celebration, Asgore waited for the Queen to come, but she never did._

 _Not everyone chose to leave the Underground immediately. Only a few decided to go, leaving the rest behind while they made the first contact with humans. It shouldn't be too difficult. The nearest human city was around five hours away, from what the monsters could see from Mt. Ebott. They had time to plan how they'd make first contact. King Asgore went with a small group of monsters, hoping to bring good news._

 _Monsterkind's joy did not last not even one hour._

 _xx/xx/21xx_

 _RE: Mt. Ebott_

 _Sir:_

 _The Barrier was shattered. Monsters emerged 43 minutes later. Confrontation. The seven weren't with them, presumed dead. Retaliation protocol ensued. King surrendered, other monsters were defeated and killed._

 _Troops entered the mountain to retrieve human bodies. No problems so far._

 _-Sergeant Roger Wilco, Third Brigade._

 ** _GAME RESULT:_**

 _Celia: Dead. Her SOUL was sacrificed to open the Barrier._

 _Cohen: Dead. His SOUL was sacrificed to open the Barrier._

 _Byssa: Dead. Her SOUL was sacrificed to open the Barrier._

 _Ciruel: Dead. His SOUL was sacrificed to open the Barrier._

 _Graham: Dead. His SOUL was sacrificed to open the Barrier._

 _Ananas: Dead. Her SOUL was sacrificed to open the Barrier._

 _Frisk: Dead. Their SOUL was sacrificed to open the Barrier._

 _Syphus: Dead. A failure, nothing more._

 _Asgore – Dead. Surrendered despite his powers._

 _Toriel – Missing. Losing six children in one night..._

 _Asriel – Dead. That never changed._

 _Chara – Dead. It's doubtful their spirit will ever find peace._

 _Sans – Alive and hiding._

 _Papyrus – Dead. Innocent casualty._

 _Undyne – Dead. Fought valiantly._

 _Alphys – Missing. Was the guilt about her carelessness too much for her to endure?_

 _Mettaton – Alive and trying to survive on the surface._

 _Burgerpants - Dead. Innocent casualty._

 _9% of the monsters in the Underground died. How many will more die in the future?_

 _The winner is **Cornio**. All humans in the Underground are dead. Monsterkind is not going to be okay._

-ooooo-

Cornio's narration was very grim. Despite having won the game, there was absolutely no joy in his voice. It sounded monotone and defeated, he didn't even look up from the board. "...I win" he muttered, knocking over with a bishop the pawn that represented Syphus, cornering the king.

"...what?" Sisyphus stared at the board in disbelief. Really? He had lost? That was how the timeline was going to end?!

"You were warned. Not even a single human SOUL must be used to shatter the Barrier" Lucia said, staring at the ceiling. She sounded...upset.

"B-But – wait a second, everyone is dead?! That's ridiculous! It can't be that everyone –" Sisyphus passed his hands through his hair. Had he played so badly this was the end result? "There has to be a way to fix this. I refuse to let the game end like this!"

Cornio raised his head, looking at Sisyphus with indescribable expression. "Yes, let's fix this! Syphus can SAVE and LOAD, you need to return to an earlier point! When's the last time he made a SAVE point?" Sisyphus had been about to reply when Lucia punched the board, making the chess pieces jump up. With a swift move she suspended the pieces in the air, taking the board and turning it around. A small crystal emerged from it, and from the crystal Lucia extracted a golden thread: the timeline itself.

"Okay, you two seriously need the guidance of someone experienced. You're lucky I'm here" she definitely wasn't in good mood "You two must understand that _actions have consequences_. Tell me this: what led to this bad ending?"

"Undyne found the village, that's it" Sisyphus replied.

"But that's because Alphys left the disc where Undyne could find it"

"I can't control Alphys, I have only my piece right now, and the SAVE point is after he returned to the village. It's too late to stop Alphys"

"Run to the lab, quick!"

"I don't think I can arrive before Undyne!"

"Then—wait. I know!" Cornio's face lightened up "Distract her! If you can distract Undyne you could arrive to the lab before her!"

"But how can I distract her? It's the middle of the night, there are no monsters I can control"

"I...I don't know. There must be a way!" For someone who had cornered Sisyphus he sure seemed a bit clueless about how exactly it had happened.

Lucia, stretching and examining the timeline attentively, started moving the chess pieces in the air. "You two are focusing too much at the present, you need to look at past days. Let me put it like this: how can you convince Undyne to not to want to kill humans for their SOULs?"

"Frisk usually did it. They'd have to FIGHT her first—"

In that moment, Sisyphus sank in his seat, staring at the floating pieces with disbelief. _...no way..._ "It's my fault. I made a mistake"

"W-What? What do you—"

"I got Frisk to stay in Snowdin all this time...that's it, that's what I did wrong. If I hadn't – maybe they'd have met Undyne and survived..." he sighed. He was so stupid, at the time it had seemed like a reasonable thing to do, but now...

"Oh" Cornio looked at him sympathetically "It's not your fault, you were trying to protect Frisk"

"I should have looked for some other way!"

"It was a good decision at the time, you couldn't have known it'd end like this" Cornio tried to sound encouraging, but Sisyphus didn't seem fully convinced yet "And this is your chance to fix it, you can think of something!" He was right, and Sisyphus knew it, but still...

The crystal fueling the gameboard descended back where it came from, the chess pieces settled back on the surface. It had all been rewinded to the moment of the SAVE point, to the smallest detail. "Try to focus on the immediate crisis, and once that's solved do what you need to do with Frisk"

"I'm not sure how I can—"

"And you, Cornio" Lucia talked with a severe tone she didn't use often "I know you want everyone to be okay instead of causing everyone's doom, but don't you dare holding back. You need to play like you mean it" Cornio didn't reply to that. Satisfied, Lucia leaned back on her seat, making a cup of tea appear on her hand and making a flourish with her other hand "You may continue now"

-ooooo-

Syphus blinked several times, realizing belatedly he was alive. His memories were hazy, the last thing he remembered was the spears coming towards him. Maybe it was for the better he didn't remember the exact moment his last HP depleted, but the mere memory of that made Syphus furious momentarily. "Oh, come on!" he shouted, kicking the wall of Cohen's cabin and earning aching toes. While Syphus jumped on one foot, regretting kicking the solid cottage, Cohen came out of it.

"What happen—did you just _kick_ my cabin?" Cohen quickly made the connection, but there wasn't much time to argue about it. Without even bothering to apologize, Syphus turned around and started running towards the stairs that led outside of the village, trying to ignore the pain on his toes "Where are you going?!"

"I forgot something!" Syphus shouted without looking back. By his calculations from the information the witch controlling him had funneled into his head, he didn't have more than ten or so minutes before Undyne arrived to the laboratory. The advantage was that Syphus was near the laboratory already, given the location of the Hidden Village, so he had a bit of time to think of a way to distract Undyne so he could arrive first to the laboratory. _There has to be a way...I have to think of something!_ He thought while activating the firefly brooch to disguise himself.

What he hadn't expected nor was properly conveyed in the information the witch gave him was how fast Undyne was. He had just seen the main road not too far away – the only way to enter Hotland, as far as he knew – when Undyne passed by, running at full speed. "Already?!" Syphus gasped, instinctively slowing down for a moment before trying to increase his speed. There was no time for hesitation now! Taking out the halberd and throwing it aside to be able to run faster, Syphus set to try to reach Undyne.

That was an impossible task. Undyne not only was more athletic, younger and had the advantage of already being ahead by a lot, she also focused hard in everything she did, so right now she was fully focused with running towards the lab. Syphus wasn't even close to reaching her, she always stayed quite some distance ahead. If it wasn't because there was only one way into Hotland Syphus would have thought he had lost sight of her. The perspective of failing and all the humans dying again was one he wanted to avoid at all costs. Syphus forced himself to ignore how tired he felt, how his legs were starting to cramp and how the air in Waterfall hindered his sight and made him feel more winded than he should be, he had to reach her! She couldn't be allowed to enter the lab!

The most he was able to do was close the distance a bit. By the time Undyne turned the corner near the large electronic sign that welcomed people to Waterfall, Syphus was barely going underneath the stone arch where she usually waited for Frisk. Syphus could see her in the distance, a light blue shape moving at considerable speed towards Hotland. Syphus tried to shout, say something to stop her, but he was unable to, he had no air in his lungs. As if that was what his body had been waiting for, he started slowing down, having reached his limits. Away, in a straight line, was Undyne, running through the bridge after the sentry station. She'd get to the laboratory doors in matter of seconds. In a desperate attempt to try to stop her, Syphus inhaled, gasping like a fish, and poured the very little energy he had left in screaming as loudly as possible.

 ** _"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAYIIIEEEEEEEIIIIIIIIIIIT!"_**

That wail was so incredibly undignified and shrill Syphus couldn't believe he had made that sound. A simple word like 'wait' had gotten distorted that much? At least it seemed to have done what he wanted, because Undyne stopped, just a few feet away from the doors, and turned around. Syphus, grabbing his knees and more tired than he had felt in a long time, weakly waved at Undyne. She looked at him, back at the laboratory, and decided to approach Syphus. He may need help, after all.

"You okay?" she inquired once she was close enough to take a better look at him. Syphus, hunched over and with his hands on his knees, gasped and wheezed.

"...h-help...you have...Undyne...wait..."

"What? What is it?"

 _What am I supposed to say now?!_ At least he had her attention, but he needed to get her go away for the enough time for him to enter the laboratory. He needed two things: something urgent that merited such a panicked behavior, and a location that wasn't so far away it'd be suspicious. _...I better be careful.._. "Human...I saw a human..."

"What?!" she would have grabbed him from the shoulders if he hadn't been so obviously fatigued "Where?!"

"Uh...I saw a human in—I saw them at—" Scratch that, it had to be close enough to where they were right now _and_ far enough from the Hidden Village for them to not be in any danger. There weren't that many places that fit such requirements, but maybe, just maybe... "...the garbage dump"

Undyne looked towards Waterfall. The garbage dump wasn't too far away, she could go, check it and return, all in no time. It wasn't like she could risk not taking a look. Humans were a matter of utmost importance. "Got it" Undyne nodded, immediately running away towards the place indicated. Syphus watched her run away, gathering his breath, before he shambled towards the laboratory, moving as if he was going to trip and fall at any moment. He managed to get to the steel doors, and knocked on them.

After a few seconds that seemed like hours to Syphus, the doors parted. "S-Syphus? What are you doing here?"

"I forgot something..." Syphus stumbled inside, starting to recover his energy "Sorry, I'll be gone in a minute"

"Uh, that's fine, I guess..." as long as it was just a minute she was fine with that. Syphus looked around, pretending to look at the floor but instead he was paying attention to his surroundings. Over there! There was his target, that DVD case on that desk. Syphus slowly approached it, still looking around "What are you looking for?"

"It's a tiny thing, hm..." he had arrived close to the desk, but he couldn't take it without Alphys noticing. "Hey, what's that?" Syphus pointed in the opposite direction. While Alphys looked in that direction – and Syphus mentally slapped himself for such a childish and stupid distraction – he quickly took the DVD case, hiding it behind his back right before Alphys turned around. "Oh, sorry, I think it was nothing"

"R-Right...did you find the thing you were looking for?"

"Yeah! I did, so I'm going to leave now. Thanks, Alphys, I owe you one" before he could move towards the doors somebody knocked on them. _Crap, not now!_ They opened quickly, revealing Undyne. The greeting Undyne was going to give Alphys was forgotten once she saw Syphus.

"There was no human in the garbage dump!"

"Human in the garbage d-dump...?" Alphys looked between Undyne and Syphus, confused "What's she talking about?"

"Uh, there must be an explanation for that—"

"Then say it, punk!" Undyne narrowed her visible eye. Syphus, trying to open the DVD case behind his back and trying to take out the disc, smiled sheepishly, his feathers fluffing up until he looked like a particularly puffy half-plucked chicken.

"Maybe I saw one of the garbage piles in an odd angle and thought it was...a human?" an awkward silence fell on the room. Undyne didn't believe that excuse at all, her expression showed it. Alphys noticed it too, and although she didn't fully understand what was going on, she nodded.

"Th-that's plausible, the junk piles have some s-strange shapes, Undyne"

"I know!" Undyne threw her hands in the air, exasperated. She knew very well that was possible and couldn't prove that wasn't what happened. She had no reason to think that feathered monster was lying "Hey, Alphys! There's a camera in the garbage dump, right? Let's see it!"

In that moment the DVD case slipped from Syphus' hand, falling to the floor with a clattering noise. Thankfully, the disc was safe on Syphus' hands. "Uh, but that's not GOING-!" Syphus shouted, trying to disguise the sound of snapping the disc in half "—to prove much, right?"

"Of course it will! If there's no human at all at any time—"

"Uh, Undyne? I..." Alphys intertwined her claws "The camera in the garbage dump is, uh, broken"

Undyne facepalmed. "Are you serious?!"

"Y-yes, my cameras seem to break easily. The other d-day, that camera in Waterfall—"

"I know!" Undyne removed her hand from her face "Jeez, Alphys, you should invent some way to protect the cameras" There wasn't really a way to check if there was ever a human in the garbage dump, and honestly Undyne didn't feel like calling for a witch hunt through Waterfall without knowing for sure there really was a human around. That would be a waste of time and resources, and she was the Captain of the Royal Guard, it was her responsibility to lead the guards with relatively efficiency. She would rather to fight and look for a human, but logistics were also a part of the job. Frustrated, she grabbed the DVD case Syphus had dropped, turning it around in her hands "Why are you being so suspicious, whoever you are?!"

"I'm not being suspicious!" Syphus blurted out, unsure of how to reply. Undyne put the DVD case aside, not even bothering to open it. He didn't do all this circus just to try to borrow or steal Alphys' anime, right?

"Whatever" she turned around to Alphys "Are you feeling better now? You sounded strange in that earlier call"

"I'm fine" Alphys said. Undyne sighed and went upstairs. She trusted Alphys, not even doubting for a second Alphys was lying. Once the Captain was gone, Alphys sighed, taking off her glasses and rubbing her eye "I'm sorry about Undyne, Syphus, she hates when things reach a dead end..." she put her glasses back on "D-Did you...really see a human at th-the garbage dump?"

"No. Thanks for backing me up, Alphys" Syphus inserted the pieces of disc in the sleeves of his track jacket. Alphys nodded, lowering her voice.

"You're p-protecting a human...right?"

"...I can't answer that. I'm not saying I am, though"

"N-No, it's okay, you don't need to answer" Alphys looked down "...I understand...but Undyne is going to find out about the humans in the Underground at some point...and I don't know yet if it'll be because I'll tell her" at some point she had to tell Undyne, that's what she thought. There was no way she'd be able to keep the secret from Undyne forever, Alphys thought, then again...she had kept from Undyne a few secrets for quite some while...

...was she getting used to lying to Undyne? That mere thought made Alphys want to go confess to Undyne everything she had hidden from her, but she didn't move. She had too much fear to consider it seriously.

Once Syphus left the laboratory, Alphys took the DVD case, opening it and finding there was nothing inside. Just like she suspected, Syphus had taken it. Outside, while crossing the bridge to Waterfall, Syphus took out of his sleeves the pieces of disc and let them fall into the lava that was far in the depths of the cavern.

It was done. The Hidden Village would continue hidden for longer.

-ooooo-

Sisyphus looked away from the board, relaxing immensely. It had been difficult, but he had managed to do it, his piece had ensured the humans' survival for a while longer. "Done! And the next day I'll ask Frisk to continue their journey...that should be enough"

"It should be!" Cornio was much more relaxed now. He had been less skillful this time than before, and he hoped Lucia hadn't noticed. He looked at the arcane witch, who was staring at him. Even with her blindfold, Cornio felt the drilling stare of disapproval. Oops, she knew. Lucia put aside the teacup, standing up from her seat.

"I'm leaving for a while. Continue without me" she said, exiting the parlor. _Wow._ She could be a childish when things didn't go like she wanted, Sisyphus knew that, but he didn't think she'd do that in front of a guest.

"Don't pay attention to her. I don't think you played badly" Sisyphus said. Cornio frowned and shrugged, a bit uncomfortable.

"She noticed I wasn't doing my best. I could have encouraged Undyne to be more assertive"

"Oh?" Sisyphus leaned forward, looking at Cornio with more attention. That was a meaningful statement! "I thought you had made Undyne confront me"

Cornio touched lightly the top of one of his bishop pieces, talking softly and with melancholy. "I don't like the idea of controlling people. That's not what I want to do"

"Then how do you play?"

"You know that little voice in your head that sometimes sounds like it gives you advice and encouragement and tells you when you're doing something bad?"

"You mean one's conscience?"

"Yes! Like that" Cornio's arm raised, outside of the trench coat he had hanging from his shoulders. _He's not wearing that thing?_ "It's better than forcing people to do what one wants, right? I wouldn't like that happening to me..."

"I agree with you about that" Not that it stopped Sisyphus from exerting some minor control over some of the monsters in the Underground...even if he didn't like it. So far the only moment he had done it was with the Snowdin guards, to rough up Frisk a bit. _And I'm not going to do it again._ Cornio hadn't forgotten about it at all, though. He looked at Sisyphus with strange expression, one that made Sisyphus feel especially self-conscious. Feeling the need to defend himself more, Sisyphus hurried to add: "And my piece is pretty much me, created from my SOUL, it's not like he's a separate entity from me"

"...I know..." Cornio's expression gained a tinge of sadness before looking away _. Uh? What was that?_ Sisyphus was sure he had seen...sadness and guilty, but why? He had just mentioned a simple fact; why did it warrant such reaction?

Cornio avoided looking at Sisyphus, hiding a bit inside his trench coat. "Did I say something wrong?" Sisyphus inquired, Cornio simply shook his head. Seeing that Cornio's strange reaction, he decided to ask something else "Okay, changing topic. Is this your first game?"

The other witch raised his head, once again his face acquiring an expression that showed he was trying very hard not to show too much emotion "Kind of? It's the first time I play with a gameboard"

"What do you mean?"

"You know...my life before I was a witch" That was self-explanatory.

"What kind of life was it?"

"I don't like to talk about it, but I wasn't...I wasn't a good person. Please don't make me say more" Cornio closed his eyes "I don't want to think about it"

That was enough for Sisyphus. "Oh...I'm sorry. I didn't mean to—"

"It's okay. What happened in the past doesn't mean that much anymore" his voice turned more resolute, like he was imparting an important lesson "What matters is what one does in the present. When I was acknowledged as a witch ten years ago-"

"You're just ten years old?!" That was even younger than Sisyphus! "How old were you when you were human?" The silence told Sisyphus the interruption wasn't good at all "I'm sorry. Continue"

"Ten years ago I decided I'd make amends for everything. So that's what I want to do, now that I have all this power and I can oversee a world that means I can make amends" he narrowed his eyes, thinking "Because that's what witches do, right? We oversee worlds and try to make things better...I think"

"...you don't know?"

"It's been ten years and there's a lot I don't understand about being a witch"

 **You feel you understand Cornio a bit more.**

 **The Unusual Witch Social Link has reached Rank 2!**

 **Your power to create Personas of the Death Arcana has grown!**

Cornio nudged a pawn forward. "I don't like these games...this is the first one I play and I already want it to end as soon as possible"

"It could have ended not too long ago, and with a victory for you" Not that Sisyphus wanted that at all.

"I know, but I don't want to win and destroy monsterkind"

Sisyphus raised his eyebrows. "I didn't think you'd care about them...I thought you were like Lucia, like she says almost all witches are: only caring about entertainment"

"Then I'm not like most witches" Cornio looked at Sisyphus' eyes "What about you? Are _you_ like most witches?

Do you care about all these monsters and humans?"

"Of course I do!" Sisyphus' reply was immediate, even raising his voice as if that was the most stupid question ever asked "All those humans are my friends, and the monsters don't deserve to be destroyed. I want to set them all free"

The answer seemed to please Cornio, he smiled. "That's what I hoped to hear. Want to keep going?"

"Let's do it" Sisyphus examined the position of the pieces, meditating his next move. Cornio wasn't like Sisyphus thought he'd be; he wasn't just a random opponent Lucia had found who knew where. He clearly deviated from Lucia's 'stave boredom no matter what' philosophy regarding games and tales, and it was impossible she didn't know it. Why did she bring him here, then?

...now that he thought about it, Lucia was behaving a bit unusual. She was meddling with both of them, but for the most part she was content to be a spectator – and sometimes aid Sisyphus, but not that much. Usually she was very hands-on, wanting to take part of everything. If Sisyphus had to define her personality, she'd describe her as an overbearing woman, with a personality that required a lot of patience to deal with. She wasn't too different on that regard – she was still as annoying as usual – but Sisyphus couldn't avoid thinking that there was something about her that made him be in high alert.

What was going on with Lucia?

 **CHECKMATE IN ZERO MOVES - AVERTED**

 **CHECK IN TWO MOVES**

* * *

 **SOCIAL LINKS:**

 **Fool - Frisk - RANK 4**

 **Magician - Burgerpants - RANK 1**

 **Priestess - Alphys - RANK 2**

 **Empress - Toriel - RANK 2**

 **Emperor - Cohen - RANK 3**

 **Hierophant - Ciruel - RANK 2**

 **Lovers - ? - RANK 0**

 **Chariot - Ananas - RANK 5**

 **Justice - ? - RANK 0**

 **Hermit - ? - RANK 0**

 **Fortune - ? - RANK 0**

 **Strength - ? - RANK 0**

 **Hanged Man - ? - RANK 0**

 **Death - Cornio - RANK 2**

 **Temperance - ? - RANK 0**

 **Devil - ? - RANK 0**

 **Tower - ? - RANK 0**

 **Star - Lucia - RANK 1**

 **Moon - ? - RANK 0**

 **Sun - Papyrus - RANK 2**

 **Judgment - Team - RANK 1**

 **Aeon - Syphus - RANK 2**

 **Jester - Alphonse - RANK 2**


	19. Meddler

Somehow, barely stopping the timeline from ending in a major disaster was something that made one sleep like a log. He hadn't even done much, but apparently even small actions can affect way more than he expected. The moment Syphus returned to the village and laid on the mattress Cohen had lent him, he fell asleep. Cohen woke him up at noon. The magical illumination in the village was at its brightest. "Hey. It's almost lunch time. When are you going to get up?" the old man growled, shaking him up. Syphus had never slept for so long, had something happened to him? Syphus sat up on his mattress, suppressing a yawn.

"What?"

"Usually you're up and ready much earlier than this. Something wrong?"

Syphus shook his head. "No, I was just tired. Don't worry about it" but now that he was awake, may as well start his day. He had at least one thing to do today. He needed to tell Frisk to get moving. Stopping their journey had been a big mistake, and although Syphus feared that Frisk could get hurt or worse, he had no other option than trusting them and hoping for the best. It wasn't like they could stick with Frisk, he had to let the child go alone – although maybe Sans would watch them from afar.

Once Syphus felt ready to leave the village and go to Snowdin, he started to go in direction of the way out, but Graham stopped him. "Come here, I want you to take a look" he said, guiding Syphus to an unfinished cottage, where Cohen was already waiting "Do you like how it's looking so far?" _Well I'm not sure what to say_... Was there really a way to know if the progress was going well or not? Graham had built a couple walls, and the rest of the cottage's limits were marked on the ground. It didn't seem like it'd be different from the rest of the cabins.

"Thanks, Graham, I like it"

"I must say, you have been more tolerable than I thought you'd be" Cohen commented "I didn't know what to expect from having to host someone in my cottage, but you're okay"

"...thanks, I guess" Syphus mumbled morosely. Graham and Cohen exchanged a glance.

"Are you sure you're okay? You're acting a bit...gloomy"

"That may not be none of our business, Cohen" Graham whispered to him.

"Sorry, I just...had a bad night" after a pause Syphus sighed "Take care, both of you"

"I can take care of myself very well" Cohen smirked "I may be old but I can give a lot of fight" A grimace crossed Syphus' face, the image of Cohen lying limply against the wall flashing in his mind. The grimace didn't go unnoticed "You doubt me? I can show you what I mean, anytime"

"Cohen's right, he's the best fighter we have in this village. Not that the rest of us know any fighting at all" Graham raised his eyebrows "Isn't there a saying that says 'he with one single eye is the king among blind'? or something like that"

"If you all tried to learn fighting I'd gladly teach you, it's not my fault nobody but Annie is interested" the implicit 'and I don't want to teach _her_ ' was subtle, but nobody commented on it "You know how I do this. Right first, then left, try to look for the chance for an uppercut...

...why are you looking so pale, Syphus?"

 _I have to keep my mind busy. I don't want to think about this, damn it!_

-ooooo-

Working at Grillby's right now was the last thing Syphus wanted to do. He felt too drained to subject himself to half a day of working. Syphus knew that was an immature thought, but he simply didn't feel like it, maturity be damned. There were other things to do. _...knowing it's wrong yet doing it is even more immature, isn't it?_ he thought, cringing. He was going to be particularly productive next time, to shut up this nagging feeling.

Papyrus was the person to open the door, greeting Syphus with the usual enthusiasm. "SANS! WE HAVE A GUEST! STOP BEING LAZY AND COME GREET THEM!"

"sup"

""SUP" IS NOT A FITTING GREETING FOR A FRIEND VISITING US!" he shouted, shaking Syphus' hand with energy before ascending the stairs to his bedroom.

Sans was on the couch, to his side the big bag filled with materials Syphus had brought last time. In his hands he had another brass replica of the snow Sans in Snowdin Forest. When Syphus approached, Sans passed the bag and the lump of brass, saying he had been unable to do anything with any of that, and telling him to sell it all in Temmie Village. Giving Toriel the fabric and asking her a favor was an option, too.

"...I'm sure the Queen has a lot of more important stuff to do than sew stuff for random vassals"

"who knows. you'd be surprised"

"SANS! WHERE'S MY CAPE!" Papyrus was walking around noisily in his bedroom "I HAVE TO GO TRAIN WITH UNDYNE TODAY!" Neither Sans nor Syphus tried to answer that, instead trying to continue their conversation.

"Where's Frisk? I need to tell them something"

Sans pointed with his thumb through the window. "they left a few hours ago. you didn't expect them to stay here for as long as you wanted, did you?" before Syphus could panic about that Sans winked "relax. i'm keeping an eye socket on them"

"YOU HAVE BEEN SITTING THERE ALL MORNING!" Papyrus shouted from his bedroom.

"a well-deserved break after watching over that kid. now that you're here, 'phus, I have a favor to ask you. paps has been a bit down these days, could you walk with him to undyne's house?"

"Sure" Since Frisk wasn't there, walking to Waterfall after having failed to fulfill the one thing he had wanted to do was a rather sad perspective. Having company should help him feel better. Sans looked at Syphus with more attention than before.

"the way you're standing, that expression of yours...you saw something you'd rather forget"

Syphus tried to make a more neutral face, but that was as good as a confession to Sans. He wouldn't have any reason to feign calm unless something had happened. "I just had a bad dream, don't worry about it"

"what kind of bad dream?"

"The 'everybody dies' kind" the piece said with even tone. Sans chuckled, looking tired.

"those are always tough—hey there paps"

Syphus turned around, noticing Papyrus had descended the stairs. For a moment Papyrus had a rather conflicted expression, like he wasn't sure what to say. It lasted no more than a couple seconds, enough for both Sans and Syphus to notice. "I'M READY! LET'S GET GOING, TO UNDYNE'S HOUSE! NYEH HEHEH!" he said, his voice getting louder than usual – a sign he was nervous.

The walk through Waterfall was rather silent, a blatant indication something was _very wrong_. Since when was Papyrus the type to walk in silence, without attempting to do some sort of animated conversation? Not even when they encountered many monsters, the usually friendly and encouraging Papyrus never tried to establish any sort of communication with them, not even a greeting.

The silence got so overbearing Syphus was getting more and more nervous, until he decided to try to shatter it no matter what. "So, what's eating you? You have been very silent since we left Snowdin"

"SILENT? WHO HAS BEEN SILENT?" Papyrus looked away pointedly.

"You. I haven't known you for long, but I don't think you're the type to be silent. Is there something bothering you?"

"NO! EVERYTHING IS JUST FINE! LIFE IS GOOD FOR THE GREAT PAPYRUS!" that statement was received with a blank look that oozed doubt. "PLEASE DON'T LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT"

"...fine. I won't ask you again" that was going to be the end of the conversation, but Papyrus started vibrating, making a noise that resembled an engine, until a moment later he threw his hands in the air.

"NYEEEH! FRIEND, YOU MUST TELL ME: ARE _YOU_ OKAY?"

"W-What? What do you-?"

"I HEARD YOU HAD A BAD DREAM. SANS HAS THOSE ALL THE TIME. HE SAYS IT'S NOTHING IMPORTANT, BUT IT SEEMS VERY IMPORTANT, PERHAPS THE IMPORTANTEST THING RIGHT NOW" he grabbed Syphus' shoulders comfortingly "ARE YOU HAVING BAD DREAMS TOO?"

"No! That was a one-time thing, I'm sure of it" the piece said. Papyrus didn't seem convinced, but he let go of Syphus' shoulders. They continued walking, thankfully still talking instead of letting the silence settle again.

"SOMETIMES I FEEL LIKE SANS IS HIDING SOMETHING FROM ME" Papyrus said. _Of course he is_. Bad dreams? That was unlikely. That was more likely to be Sans' way to disguise everything he knew from other timelines, or maybe to explain why he was to apathetic and lazy "WHAT DO YOU THINK?"

"I don't know what you want me to tell you"

"DO YOU THINK SANS COULD BE HIDING SOMETHING FROM ME?" the skeleton made a hopeful face that didn't last long "SANS IS THE BEST BROTHER ONE COULD EVER HAVE! THERE'S NO WAY HE'D TRY TO LIE TO ME!

...

...RIGHT?"

"No! Of course not!" Syphus replied immediately, not daring to shatter Papyrus' image of Sans. Right after saying that, Ciruel's words came to mind: 'Papyrus isn't some kind of child for you to mince words' He was right, Papyrus deserved to know that Sans was hiding something. Syphus had no intention to reveal the exact details – Sans should do it, not him – but maybe he could encourage Papyrus to find out more? "...maybe?"

"MAYBE? OH NO! DO YOU REALLY THINK THAT?"

"It's possible. I don't know, you're going to have to talk it with him"

"BUT IF SANS IS LYING TO ME THEN THAT MEANS HE DOESN'T TRUST ME?"

 _Crap!_ "That's not what I said!" Syphus hurried to clarify "Sometimes people keep secrets from others, that doesn't mean he doesn't trust you"

"OH. I'M SORRY. HOW COULD I HAVE DOUBTED SANS? NO, IF HE'S NOT TELLING ME SOMETHING THEN THERE MUST BE A REASON FOR THAT! SANS KNOWS BETTER THAN ME. I SHOULD TRUST HIS JUDGMENT"

Despite such words, Papyrus didn't seem like he fully believed in them.

 **You're starting to understand the depths of Papyrus' worries.**

 **The Papyrus Social Link has reached Rank 3!**

 **Your power to create Personas of the Sun Arcana has grown!**

"I don't know, Papyrus. I'm not the best person to talk this with" Syphus stuck his hands into his jacket, looking at the ground "You should talk this with Sans"

"YES! I WILL. SOMEDAY. NOT TODAY. SOMEDAY" _That's better than nothing, I guess..._

When Papyrus and Syphus got to Undyne's house, the piece stayed back while Papyrus strolled to the door. The skeleton raised his hand to knock on the door, but then he noticed Syphus was way behind him. "OVER HERE! YOU SHOULD MEET UNDYNE. I THINK YOU AND HER WOULD GET ALONG!"

"I already met her. I don't think she likes me very much"

"NONSENSE! IF YOU'RE AFRAID THEN DO NOT FEAR! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, SHALL PROVIDE ASSISTANCE IN EARNING UNDYNE'S FRIENDSHIP"

"Eeeeeeh..." Syphus stepped forward hesitantly. Undyne wouldn't get angry and make a scene if Papyrus was there, would she? Papyrus knocked on the door and waited. After a couple minutes it seemed that Undyne wasn't going to open.

"HOW UNLUCKY...UNDYNE ISN'T HOME"

"Too bad, eh?"

Syphus' hopeful interjection and attempt to get out only served to encourage Papyrus more. "WAIT, I KNOW! IF SHE ISN'T HERE, SHE MAY BE AT THE GARBAGE DUMP" _Welp._ He wasn't wrong. It took no time to get to the garbage dump. The piles of junk and garbage didn't stink, everything looked strangely clean. It was almost a pleasant place to be, if it wasn't for the foot of water covering the floor.

Noises of someone rummaging through the trash sounded from further inside the garbage dump. Papyrus took the lead while Syphus followed, reticent. He was sure that even if he left right now, Papyrus would somehow continue and go further. Better to stay and try to let this go according to his own terms.

Undyne and Alphys were there, digging through a pile of junk. Undyne did most of the physical labor, grinning and showing most of her teeth while picking up large pieces of steel with ease. Alphys, staying back and looking at the trash with appraising eye, pointed aside, where a few objects had been left aside. Undyne left there what seemed to be part of a large satellite dish. "UNDYNE! I'M HERE NOW!"

"Papyrus!" Undyne sounded genuinely happy to see him. She swept away the sweat from her face "Ready for a training session?"

"INDEED I AM! AND I BROUGHT A FRIEND!" Papyrus stepped away, leaving in plain sight what seemed to be a bunch of feathers stuffed into a green track jacket. "DON'T BE SHY, SYPHUS! COME OVER HERE!"

"Hey, I don't think we have—" the realization came to Undyne immediately. Those clothes, that brooch, the feathers...it was that guy! The snake that had made her look like a fool in front of Alphys! Undyne tensed up "Hello...nice to see you again... _punk_ " Syphus waved half-heartedly, instead stepping around and approaching Alphys. Alphys was far more welcoming, although hers wasn't exactly an effusive greeting.

Soon Papyrus and Undyne were training. Syphus had supposed it was because Papyrus was still convinced someday he'd be called to aid Syphus, but Alphys clarified that the training was mostly Undyne's idea. "She wants Papyrus to not stop training even though h-he doesn't want to be part of the R-Royal Guard anymore" Alphys frowned "H-He still hasn't said why he quit trying..."

"What has Undyne said about that?" Syphus inquired, watching their training. Papyrus had formed several bones protruding from the ground, bones he was using to strike cans and other small debris Undyne threw around. His accuracy and strength were notorious, despite the uneven terrain and the obstacles the bones moved with precision towards the cans, extending as high as needed to hit them in the air. The cans were often fired away from the garbage dump, too far for anyone to take the time go pick them up. 'YEAH! KEEP GOING' Undyne would shout every time Papyrus did a particularly impressive move.

Alphys sat on a dry pile of junk, wincing at how uncomfortable it was. "She didn't like it, of course...s-she thinks Papyrus was being a quitter. Maybe you don't know, but Undyne is n-not the type of p-person that would let anything stop her..."

"Yeah, I can see it" he said. Undyne commanded Papyrus to lift a heavy piece of machinery with bones, telling him to hold it up for a minute. 'YOU'RE DOING GREAT. KEEP HOLDING UP!' she was shouting. Alphys and Syphus stared in silence, although Alphys was focusing more on Undyne than Papyrus. She wasn't blushing or acting too unnatural, if Syphus hadn't known that she was interested in Undyne he wouldn't have noticed. _Maybe I could try..._ The Social Links seemed to lead to a bond of trust between him and other people, and that involved his newfound friends revealing some sort of fact about them or their lives. Perhaps that could be forced to happen at a quicker pace? Syphus thought for a moment, looking for something Alphys would usually have hidden but would reveal to somebody she trusted. _Undyne._

"So, when are you going to ask her out?"

"W-What?!" Alphys turned her head around so fast some would have thought she almost snapped her neck.

"You fancy Undyne. Why don't you ask her out?"

"Th-That's n-none of your b-business!" She wasn't wrong about that. What Syphus was doing truly was gratuitous snooping into other people's affairs. He didn't seem to care, much to Alphys' frustration. "Is it that obvious?"

"It's not that obvious, I just had a lucky guess"

"I'm going to t-talk with her when I'm ready" she murmured, watching. Undyne had made a spear, attacking Papyrus while he blocked with bones "There's no hurry, and...I-I-I don't know if she feels the same. I won't dare if I don't know for sure she is...i-interested in me too..."

"You can't keep waiting forever. That's the kind of thing people come to regret"

"I know, but—" Alphys got off the junk pile "Don't tell h-her. Don't tell anyone. This is something I must do myself...s-someday...I'll have to..."

 **You feel you have gotten a bit closer to Alphys**

 **The Alphys Social Link has reached Rank 3!**

 **Your power to create Personas of the Priestess Arcana has grown!**

"And...Syphus? Please don't do that again" Alphys sounded rather serious "That was private, you shouldn't – you shouldn't do that" her tone showed she completely meant that. _Was it so wrong...?_ If Alphys of all people protested it, then anyone with a more assertive personality would react in ways that'd make him regret it a lot.

"I'm sorry, Alphys..."

Alphys looked at him for a moment before raising her voice. "Undyne! Um, Undyne? Syphus said he wants to train with you"

"What?!" Okay, even Alphys would make him regret it. It was official: being nosy and unsubtle was an awful idea. Undyne approached with her hands on her hips.

"Really? And what makes you think I want—"

"THAT'S A GREAT IDEA! UNDYNE, YOU SHOULD TRAIN HIM!"

Undyne turned towards Papyrus. "I don't think I should do that"

"OH. THAT'S A PROBLEM" Papyrus sighed a bit theatrically "AND HERE I HAD THOUGHT YOU'D HAVE WHAT'S NEEDED TO TRAIN HIM"

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"I MEAN THAT ONLY _YOU_ WOULD BE ABLE TO TURN SYPHUS INTO A VERITABLE WARRIOR! HE'S HOPELESS WITHOUT YOUR HELP, UNDYNE" Papyrus scooted towards Syphus, doing a stage whisper "YOU'RE NOT HOPELESS. EVERYONE CAN BE GREAT, INCLUDING YOU"

Undyne stared at him for a moment, seemingly considering it. "I don't know. What do you think, Alphys?"

"Do I get a say on this?" Syphus tried to protest, but Alphys smiled slyly at him before replying, looking straight at him:

"I'm afraid you don't" That both Alphys and Papyrus were pushing her to train Syphus was something Undyne wasn't happy about. Well, sure, why not. Just one training session and that'd be it. She would be able to say she tried. Then she'd tell Syphus they were done, and that'd be the end of this. It was easier than trying to argue and convince them to not to force her a dead weight on her.

"Fine. You!" Undyne pointed at Syphus' chest "Come here tomorrow morning. I promise you I'm going to train you so hard you'll be unable to move for a week!"

"THAT'S THE SPIRIT!" Papyrus beamed with pride.

"Wonderful" Alphys chuckled. It was fair payback, and a lesson for Syphus to not to meddle into other people's private affairs like he did. What kind of person would do that, really? Seeing that Alphys and Papyrus wouldn't simply let him reject such generous offer and that simply not meeting Undyne the next morning was only going to make everything worse, Syphus sighed, resigned, and nodded weakly.

"Got it. See you tomorrow, Undyne"

"PUT MORE ENERGY INTO YOUR WORDS!" Undyne suddenly demanded. Syphus stood up straighter, barely resisting the urge to salute.

"Thank you and see you tomorrow morning, Undyne!" _This is going to be a pain in the ass..._

-ooooo-

Who'd have thought stuff like a brass lump with Sans' name would sell so well at the right place? The Temmie Village shopkeeper had given him so much gold Syphus could afford to not go work at Grillby's for a couple weeks, if he wanted. Not wanting to get rid of all the materials so quickly, Syphus refrained from bringing the rest. But the sudden influx of gold and the knowledge he had more gold available at any point just by bringing more seemingly useless stuff here made him feel like his worries about gold didn't have any meaning anymore.

To celebrate, Syphus decided to give good use to the gold and go see Burgerpants again. It was likely that to talk to him he'd need to buy another Starfait. He still didn't want to guzzle down glitter in a milkshake, but...maybe a sip or two would be good...

The MTT fast food restaurant seemed much less busy than it had been last time Syphus had been there, and Burgerpants was once again staring into the distance, utterly bored. When Syphus entered, Burgerpants barely glanced at him, only when the piece approached the counter Burgerpants straightened and said the usual spiel. "How's life treating you, BP?" Syphus asked, leaning on the counter.

"I'm sorry, mister, it's against company policy to talk with customers who haven't bought anything" he replied immediately. Syphus frowned, taking out gold from his pocket to get a Starfait.

"Again with that...do you get a commission for each sale or what?" he asked jokingly.

"I could earn money when other people buy something here?" Burgerpants seemed genuinely surprised to hear that. Syphus' coy smile disappeared, avoiding to look at Burgerpants.

"Forget it. It was a joke"

"Oh" Burgerpants looked like this was once another disappointment more for the pile "Too bad. That'd have made his hellish hole much more bearable"

Syphus stared at the list of products of the Burger Emporium as if it was the most interesting object ever. "You really don't like this job, do you?"

"Are you kidding me?" Burgerpants made a very fake cheerful grin, swooning around "I _love_ this job! And by _love_ I mean I'd rather to have my teeth pulled out with _pliers_!" he glanced around as if he expected to see his boss standing nearby, listening to that momentary outburst, but he wasn't around. When Burgerpants noticed Syphus was doing no more than staring at him blankly, Burgerpants muttered: "Yeah, I don't like my job"

"I understood that, I just didn't expect you to have such strong feelings about it"

"Well, I do, and you know why?" Burgerpants looked around again before lowering his voice, just in case "Just between you and me, I wanted to be an actor!" Burgerpants confided. That was a nice goal, and one Syphus sympathized with! Why was he working in a job he clearly hated, then? Syphus asked that, getting as a response a look that said 'are you kidding me?' "Have you realized _where_ we're living? This is the Underground. There's no chance for me to be an actor"

"Have you even tried?"

"Tried? _Where_ would I try? There's nothing I can do!" Burgerpants took out a cigarette "And even if I had a chance, I would have Mettaton as my only competition. It's an automatic loss for me! How would I defeat Mettaton in his own game?"

"Mettaton? Who's that?" Syphus knew very well who was Mettaton, hard not to know after watching the timelines several thousand times. Burgerpants shot him a disbelieving look.

"Have you been living under a rock?" As response, Syphus pointed upwards. Right, they were _underground_. Burgerpants actually gave a short laugh, amused. "Touché. Mettaton is "the star of the Underground", that's what he calls himself, and since he has no competition no one can deny it. And who would dare to?"

"That'd be a reason to try to achieve that dream you have, right? Stick it to your boss"

"You can't be serious" he narrowed his eyes, taking a drag of his cigarette "I'd like not to waste my time on something impossible. Life is too hard already for me to ask for more trouble"

That severely defeatist statement tugged at Syphus' heartstrings. Burgerpants was young, he should have a bright outlook of the future, yet here he was, trapped and without any enthusiasm about what may come. It was rather disheartening to see someone so defeated. "Don't let that discourage you, BP..."

"I have wasted nineteen years of my life. I'd rather not to waste any more in senseless dreams" Burgerpants scowled "There's nothing to be done here in the Underground. It'd be different if there was a chance to go onto the surface, but we're all trapped here...

...and we won't ever get out"

 **Burgerpants has confided in you.**

 **The Fast Food Worker Social Link has reached Rank 2!**

 **Your power to create Personas of the Magician Arcana has grown!**

The worker put the cigarette aside. "Bah...now I'm in bad mood...please leave before my boss sees you. I don't want to get in trouble again" It seemed that there was no more option than to leave for now. Syphus nodded.

"Alright, I'll leave. Good luck, BP"

"Same to you, bud" he replied, showing a tired grin. This really was the image of a person who felt already defeated, and who despite hating his dead end situation simply saw no way to solve it. It was a rather pitiful situation, one Syphus actually wanted to see changed. How to help, though? Syphus had barely stepped away from the counter in direction of the exit when he heard a faint 'oh no' behind him. The cause of that 'oh no' was obvious immediately after that.

"OH YES!"

From the other side of the glass doors the monster Burgerpants wanted to see the least appeared. The doors parted, and a robot entered. He had a rectangular body, with a bright grid of lights as a face. Gloved arms, flexible and expressive, and a single wheel on an axle protruded from the body. Syphus stopped, not having expected to see that monster in person.

Mettaton had arrived.

"GOOOOD EVENING, BEAUTIES!" Mettaton exclaimed as soon as he entered. A group of clients surrounded him, begging for autographs. Mettaton shook a few hands while he slowly approached the counter, where Syphus stood, at a loss about what to do, and Burgerpants tried to not seem as frustrated as he really felt. Mettaton, extending his hands and letting his fans put pieces of papers in his hands, started giving autographs while talking to his worker. "MY, MY, WHAT'S THE MEANING OF THIS?"

"What do you mean...boss?" Burgerpants' eye twitched for a moment.

"I DON'T SEE THE SIGN ABOUT OUR NEWEST OFFER TO OUR DEAR PUBLIC. DID YOU FORGET IT, DARLING?"

"Oh. That" Burgerpants took a sign from behind the counter, placing it on the surface. It informed – in rather flowery terms – that MTT's Burger Emporium had a contest: eat a jumbo-sized Steak in the Shape of Mettaton's Face and win a room in MTT's resort for a month. The contest would continue until there was a winner someday. It'd have been a rather engaging contest if it wasn't because of the price depicted in the sign. _You'd have to pay_ how much _for one attempt?!_

Mettaton's lights flashed red for a moment, signaling his displeasure towards Burgerpants, and then he turned around to face the ten or so monsters that had gathered. "BEAUTIES AND GENTLEBEAUTIES! MTT PRESENTS YOU A NEW CONTEST!" with a lot of enthusiasm that sounded rather authentic Mettaton gave a quick summary of the contest as indicated in the sign. "AND TO MAKE IT BETTER, THERE'S NO DEADLINE TO TAKE PART IN IT! prizeisnon-transferablenosubstitutionorcashequivalentofprizesispermittedbyparticipatingyouacceptmttburgeremporium'sconditionsandforfeitanyintentiontoholdmttburgeremporiumaccountableforthecustomersactionstermsandconditionsapply" The small crowd cheered. Mettaton relished in the applause for a moment before approaching Syphus "AND NOW, TO DEMONSTRATE THE DELIGHT THAT'S OUR JUMBO-SIZED STEAK, A LUCKY CUSTOMER WILL HAVE THE CHANCE TO ENJOY IT – FOR FREE!"

Syphus stepped back, raising his claws. "Uh, I don't think this is a good idea—"

"IT'S NOT A GOOD IDEA, IT'S A _WONDERFUL_ IDEA! DON'T BE SHY, DARLING, STEP AHEAD!" Mettaton turned towards Burgerpants "DON'T LEAVE OUR PUBLIC WAITING! IS THE STEAK READY?"

"It is, sir" he gave a pitying look to Syphus before leaving a very large plate on the counter, a ridiculously sized steak lying no it. There was no way anyone would be able to eat all of it in one try.

"LOOK AT THIS _MARVELOUS_ STEAK!" Mettaton gestured at the steak with the shape of his face "A SCRUMPTIOUS, PERFECTLY COOKED STEAK FEATURING MY VISAGE. WHAT ELSE CAN ONE ASK? AND NOW, OUR LUCKY CUSTOMER WILL BE THE FIRST PERSON TO TRY IT!

WILL HE HAVE THE DILIGENCE, KNOWLEDGE OF HIS OWN LIMITS, MENTAL ENDURANCE AND PHYSICAL STRENGTH TO OVERCOME THIS CHALLENGE? LET'S FIND OUT!"

"Now?!" Syphus squeaked, eyeing the challenge in front of him. Mettaton seemed to have noticed, he approached and lowered his voice enough to whisper to Syphus.

"Just do it. Everyone simply needs to see somebody eating it"

It wasn't something Syphus really was into, but Mettaton didn't seem like someone who'd let it go if the piece refused to comply. Praying he wasn't taking a very bad decision, Syphus sighed and nodded. May as well get done with it. Besides, free food.

Soon he found himself sitting with the plate of rectangular steak in front of him. Mettaton and other five monsters were looking at him, waiting for Syphus to take the first bite. Syphus wasn't sure how eating something with the illusion of a monster body that had a much longer face than his real face was going to work, and being observed didn't assuage any fears of screwing up. Syphus hesitantly took a piece of the steak and steeled himself for what would come. _If I hesitate they're going to get antsy. Okay, me, let's do this quick and clean..._ Everyone saw the snake monster open his maw a bit, showing a row of pointy thorn-like teeth. The snake pushed the forkful of steak deep into his mouth until it seemed like he was going to eat the fork as well. One of the monsters watching went away, not liking what they were seeing, but the rest waited for Syphus to say something once he took out the empty form out of his mouth.

"...wow, this is really good!" It was not meat of any kind, that was for sure, but it was rather savory. Maybe it wasn't worth the hundreds of gold asking for one of those would cost, but at least this wasn't a dinner Syphus would loathe.

Mettaton didn't waste any time, he immediately got to Syphus' side, clapping him on the shoulder. "ANOTHER WONDERFUL MTT-BRAND PRODUCT!" he proclaimed while the few bystanders cheered Mettaton's success. The small crowd disbanded, leaving Syphus and Mettaton alone. The robot seemed to be in very good mood, the lights on his face twinkling. "THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION, DARLING. REMEMBER THAT IT'S FREE THIS ONE TIME. ANY NEW ATTEMPTS WILL COST YOU NINE HUNDRED GOLD"

"...fine" It wasn't like Syphus planned to try ever again...although...the thought of having a room in the MTT Resort for free during one month...it was quite tempting, honestly. Satisfied, Mettaton left, and Syphus, not having anything better to do, kept eating the steak, hiding part of his face with his hand, just in case.

It was true it was impossible to fill oneself with monster food thanks to its properties, but that didn't mean one could eat as much monster food as one wanted. Its magic interacted with monster bodies, making monsters not want to eat more once they reached their limit, and although humans were more tolerant by virtue of having physical bodies, that same magic would sate humans nonetheless after a certain point. Syphus had eaten around half of the huge steak before he felt like he couldn't take not even a bite more. Defeated, Syphus took the plate and brought it to where Burgerpants was waiting. The employee once again looked at him with pity, although he quickly disguised it with a derisive grin. ""Really good", eh?"

"I wasn't lying. It's good" Syphus pushed the plate with the leftovers of the steak, wincing. He felt strangely light and a bit dizzy, like he was going to start floating in any moment. Burgerpants rolled his eyes.

"It's not even real meat. It's mushrooms. I don't know why people like it so much, it tastes like mud to me" Burgerpants threw away the leftovers "So what do you think of the boss?"

"He is..." _Odd_ "...overwhelming"

"Try _insane_. He's insane, yet everyone _adores_ him. What's wrong with people? What do they see in him?" Burgerpants scoffed, stepping away from the counter. It was closing time, after all. "I don't get it. Why's everyone so focused on that guy? Why does everyone think he's so wonderful?" His voice was full of bitterness. He truly hated Mettaton, that much was for sure, but was there something else? Chances are there was something else gnawing at him, something he needed to overcome. Syphus watched him go to the tables, intending to clean them, and left in silence. There was something about Burgerpants, all that bitterness...

"His wishes of acting" Syphus murmured to no one in particular. It had to be rooted into his ruined hopes...Mettaton is the only competition he'd have. Working for him may be humiliating for Burgerpants. Still...it wasn't something as simple as telling him not to give up. Something else had to be done...but what?

Something was sure, though: Syphus was planning to visit the MTT Burger Emporium several times more in the foreseeable future...and maybe he'd try the jumbo steak again. It was _amazingly_ good. Maybe the nine hundred gold for each attempt were worth it.

* * *

 **SOCIAL LINKS:**

 **Fool - Frisk - RANK 4**

 **Magician - Burgerpants - RANK 2**

 **Priestess - Alphys - RANK 3**

 **Empress - Toriel - RANK 2**

 **Emperor - Cohen - RANK 3**

 **Hierophant - Ciruel - RANK 2**

 **Lovers - ? - RANK 0**

 **Chariot - Ananas - RANK 5**

 **Justice - ? - RANK 0**

 **Hermit - ? - RANK 0**

 **Fortune - ? - RANK 0**

 **Strength - ? - RANK 0**

 **Hanged Man - ? - RANK 0**

 **Death - Cornio - RANK 2**

 **Temperance - ? - RANK 0**

 **Devil - ? - RANK 0**

 **Tower - ? - RANK 0**

 **Star - Lucia - RANK 1**

 **Moon - ? - RANK 0**

 **Sun - Papyrus - RANK 3**

 **Judgment - Team - RANK 1**

 **Aeon - Syphus - RANK 2**

 **Jester - Alphonse - RANK 2**


	20. The Third Victim

The thought of having to endure Undyne's training wasn't pleasant, especially because she didn't see very happy about it either. Syphus didn't think she'd do something like injure him, but it didn't mean she'd take seriously this so-called training session. The fact she scheduled the session early in the morning was hinting she wasn't going to do things half-assed, though.

When he arrived to the Garbage Dump he noticed thinking Undyne wasn't going to take this seriously was a mistake. There she was, waiting for him, wearing her armor and with her helmet in her hand, sitting on top of one of the many piles of junk. When Syphus stepped towards her, she shook her head, a bit condescending. "Thought you wouldn't dare to show up, punk" Syphus didn't reply to that, his hand unconsciously going to the halberd he had inside his jacket. He hadn't been afraid of Undyne while Alphys and Papyrus were nearby, but now, being face-to-face with Undyne and without anyone else nearby...it made him rather nervous "Come on, say something"

"...let's just get done with this" Syphus mumbled, his eyes darting to the red plume of Undyne's helmet. Undyne, noticing Syphus's reticence to look at him, narrowed her eye.

"Come on! I'm not going to beat you up! This'll be a training session"

"A training session neither of us asked for"

"So what? I'm not going to disappoint them by not giving this a try! And I'm not going to let a weakling like you humiliate yourself" she jumped from the top of the pile to the ground, splashing water all around her "Get ready!"

Syphus reflexively jumped back, once again his hand going to where the halberd was. Only after a moment he noticed he had inhaled and held his breath in preparation for a fight. _Damnit, I have to calm down already_! But that was hard to do the memory of Undyne killing him still fresh in his mind. Undyne put her hands on her hips. "Will you calm down already? Now let me see what you got. Show me a magic bullet"

"A bullet? Uh...right now?" _Welp_. That was going to be a problem. The witch was the one with magic, he was just a piece. Even if he had access to the witch's power he didn't know if he'd be able to use magic at all. Undyne's expression soured even more.

"What's that supposed to mean? Don't leave me waiting, do it already!"

"You see, I'm not sure how—"

"What?!" Undyne stared at him for a moment "Did you just say you don't know how to make a bullet?" The slightly incredulous tone of her voice made Syphus feel rather self-conscious, even though he had no reason to be "Okay, let's do this step by step. Focus your magic. Picture a white ball in your mind" Not expecting anything to come out of it, Syphus closed his eyes and obeyed. That was easy, just imagining a bright white ball...it was almost relaxing. "Focus on it. Don't think of anything else"

"Got it. What now?"

"You should feel something deep inside you" _I feel silly_ "Now open your eyes without stopping thinking about that white ball" Syphus obeyed again. Undyne wasn't directly in front of him anymore, that helped him relax a bit "Try to make it real. Come on, do it!" Syphus grit his teeth, trying to picture the bullet as something real and tangible. His feathers slowly stood up on end, he narrowed his eyes, doing as much effort as possible to do what Undyne had told him. Who knows, maybe something would happen!

Nothing happened.

They kept trying for around half an hour more. Undyne tried every method she had heard was used to help monster children to channel their magic and make simple bullets, but nothing worked. Not even a spark of magic emanated anywhere in Syphus' vicinity, much to her frustration, although soon that frustration turned into something that resembled pity. Monsters that were unable to use magic at all were rare. Sure, some monsters were more powerful or have more skill with magic than others – Alphys' magic skills were specialized for her work, otherwise she was considered weak – but a total lack of magic skill was rather uncommon among monsters. That this Syphus guy was one of them...it was almost sad.

"That's enough" Undyne sighed. Why did Syphus look like he wasn't worried about it? "Magic isn't your strength. That doesn't mean there's nothing you can do"

Syphus passed her hand through the feathers of the back of his head, unsure where this was going. "What do you mean?"

"Physical strength. Let's see what you have. Come over here" she took Syphus to where the piece of satellite dish had been left the day before. The rest of the junk Alphys had selected the day before had been taken already to the laboratory, but the satellite dish piece was too large. "I want you to try lift that up"

"Isn't this a bit too much for a beginner?" Syphus said sheepishly, but approached the satellite dish nonetheless.

"You're not going to get crushed, lift it already!"

"I'll do it" Syphus grabbed the steel rods that formed the satellite dish's frame and dragged it to test how heavy it was. It moved much easier than he expected. Calmer, Syphus grabbed the satellite dish from below. The satellite dish moved upwards, so he took the chance and got underneath it to lift it further.

"Yeah! Now that's what I wanted to see. Higher!"

Syphus grunted and managed to lift the dish higher, feeling the strain in his arms. The dish got up to his neck before he felt he was reaching his limits. "H-Help..." Undyne grabbed the dish, holding it with ease while Syphus stepped aside, flexing his arms, with pained expression.

"Told you you'd be fine. No self-respecting captain would give a complete rookie more than they can handle!" she lifted the satellite dish with one hand, holding it over her head without any difficulty "I knew from the beginning you'd be fine"

"So what's your opinion?" Syphus grabbed a heavy-looking pipe as if it was a dumbbell. It would be good to be stronger. It was true his Persona did most of the fighting, but being able to hit harder with the halberd was a nice thought.

Undyne threw the satellite dish aside as if it was nothing, letting it crash and sink a bit into the water. "Do you want me to be nice or me to be blunt?"

"Be blunt"

"You're so weak I could defeat you with one single punch" Undyne said with a grin that wasn't entirely unpleasant, but Syphus didn't take it like a joke at all. He cringed, fearful "Oh, come on! That was a joke" Syphus, realizing he had reacted with fear, took a deep breath and apologized "It's not common for monsters to go around punching each other, so I can't help you with that"

"I wasn't expecting you to do anything. This is a one-time thing, isn't it?"

Undyne shrugged, groaning softly "Whatever. Get ready. I'll give you a sample of Royal Guard training. We have just half an hour more, let's make the most out of it!"

Monsters' bodies could get stronger, but given that they usually relied on magic for fighting and the such, it wasn't common for monsters to try to strengthen their physical bodies, that much Undyne knew, but the Royal Guard had a training regime that included that. She was ready to show Syphus what the training entailed – or at least a small part of it.

The captain found out Syphus would rather to strengthen his arms, something she had no objections to. Soon she had Syphus doing push-ups...

"FASTER! I'll show you how" she said before getting on the ground and doing it. "Your arms' stance is wrong; the elbows must point towards the outside!" ...and punching a mattress Undyne was holding. "Are you _punching_ or _petting_ the mattress? I DON'T FEEL THE STRENGTH OF YOUR PUNCH!"

"I'm trying as hard as I can!"

"No you're not —you can try harder!" Undyne looked from behind the mattress "Stop thinking about hitting the mattress. Imagine you're punching _through_ the mattress"

"Does that really work?"

"It's what I used to do when I was training. I know what I'm talking about, just try it – OH MY GOD I'M STILL NOT FEELING THE PUNCHES!"

Although Undyne was relentless, she had a way of making the training be almost fun instead of a drag. Her energy, the way she shouted, it was contagious, soon Syphus found himself getting enthusiastic and tackling her challenges with gusto, something Undyne approved. "I filled these heavy bottles with water. Lift those to your sides"

"Like this?"

"Yeah, like that! Higher! I want to see you doing an effort" Undyne took a bottle as well, doing the repetitive exercise twice as fast than Syphus. "Grasp those bottles tighter!"

After half an hour she declared the session was over. Syphus moved his shoulders in small circles, feeling sore. _That wasn't too bad!_ Undyne seemed satisfied too, in better mood than she had been an hour earlier. She grabbed the helmet she had left aside. "Are you interested in joining the Royal Guard?"

"You want me to?"

"I'm asking you because I want to tell you right now: I think you're not even close to being a good candidate for the Royal Guard. Your lack of magic skills makes you unviable" she tilted her head "It's a shame, you have the right attitude. It's not perfect, but you're in the right track. BUT if what you want to learn is how to fight then that's different.

The problem is you're not getting anywhere by punching. A weapon may work better for you"

Syphus smiled a bit at that. "I'm learning to use a halberd, actually!"

"A halberd? That's perfect!" Undyne grinned, showing most of her teeth "Yeah, that rules! I can work with that – oh" Right. There she had gone, talking as if it was something that didn't need Syphus' approval. Trying to cover up her blunder, she decided to be frank. "You know, I had thought you were some good-for-nothing jackass, but I was wrong. You may be good-for-nothing right now, but with some effort you can be better"

"...I'm not sure if I should feel insulted or complimented"

"Feel whatever you want. What I'm saying is that I wouldn't mind if you asked for my help. I'm serious. I could try to spare some time for you"

The offer made Syphus happier than he thought he'd feel. During the last half an hour all thoughts of Undyne having killed him hadn't even crossed his mind, and although those were returning, the thought of being in good terms with Undyne was actually rather nice. Her friendliness was genuine, that much he could see right now. "When are you free?"

"Not right now. I have a job to do. Look, go see me tomorrow at my house" she gave him directions to her house, Syphus prudently avoided mentioning he already knew where it was "What do you say? Are you tough enough to work out and train like you mean it?"

"I can do it! I will do it!"

"That's what I wanted to hear!" Undyne extended her hand. Judging the risk of Undyne not noticing the scales of his hands and his claws were mere illusions, Syphus grabbed her hand, thankful she was wearing armor. Her handshake was strong, not enough to make his bones creak, but it was strong enough for him to notice she could seriously crush his hand if she wanted "You don't seem that bad of a guy. Let's meet again sometime!"

 **Undyne seems to have warmed up to you.**

 **You feel a faint bond forming between you and Undyne.**

 **Thou art I... And I am thou**

 **Thou hast established a new bond**

 **Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Justice Arcana**

Undyne left, running with a lot of energy and leaving Syphus at the garbage dump, rubbing his arms. The training with Undyne had gone surprisingly well, and to be completely honest with himself, he actually was looking forward to meeting Undyne again. When he wasn't actively trying to fool her she was rather nice and personable. Besides, getting stronger was a nice incentive. _And because getting stronger also involves stuff I don't want to do I guess I should go do my part-time job_. True, the Temmies were willing to buy his stuff, but losing the job Sans had convinced Grillby to give to him would be embarrassing. He had to go work.

-ooooo-

"i heard you met undyne this morning"

 _Why do I feel like asking how he found out will be useless_? "We were training, actually. I should tell Papyrus, it's partly his fault I had to do that" Syphus had been given a bit more of responsibility at Grillby's, now having to help the owner of the place to keep the glasses clean, even if it involved cleaning the same glass for several minutes straight. Right now Syphus was staring into the glass, talking with Sans, who was in his second visit to the pub. "Speaking of Undyne...where's Frisk? I thought by now they'd have reached her"

"who knows"

"I thought you were supposed to keep an eye socket on them" Syphus frowned "That kid needs to talk with Undyne as soon as possible. Where did they go?"

"don't worry, they're okay. they're just taking their sweet time to get there. they also told me someone has been messing with the timeline recently. who could have done it?"

 _...oh._ Of course Frisk would notice when Syphus had to rewind the timeline to avoid the bad end. They may not have the SAVE powers anymore, but they had it for long enough time to learn to recognize when the timeline suffered changes. Did they remember what happened in that bad end? Sans shrugged, getting off his seat. "relax. it's nothing they're not used to already. just...try not to do it too often, 'kay?" he walked out of Grillby's and immediately changed locations with ease. One second he was exiting the pub; the next moment he was descending the stairs of his basement to his laboratory. "i'm back, kiddo"

Frisk looked up from what they were drawing, smiling as a greeting. They had supposedly left the skeletons' house the day before, but actually they had asked Sans to hide them for a while. Nothing against Syphus, but after what happened with Undyne last timeline they didn't want to die again. That's why they were taking their sweet time to plan instead of rushing to Waterfall. Sans left a bag near them. "i brought you this from grillby's. 'phus says hi" Frisk didn't reply to that. Sans passed by, checked his time machine, and left again, leaving Frisk with their drawing.

Now that they were alone, they were able to continue their conversation. " _Those guards were some we hadn't ever seen before. That may be a trait of this timeline"_

"So Waterfall is full of monsters I haven't ever met before?" Frisk wondered, taking another color pencil.

 _"Most likely_ " Chara's voice dripped with disapproval _"And yet you managed to get caught off-guard by them. You have gotten rusty, Frisk"_

"It was the first time I had ever seen them..." not that it was an excuse, though. Chara was right, they had gotten rusty. If Waterfall had more guards they hadn't ever interacted with, it was going to be difficult to end any FIGHT without fighting. "But we have to see Undyne, I want to see her"

 _"You will, but you need to work on your speed. Ask Sans to bring you some Sea Tea. Always have some of those with you. Got it?"_

Frisk smiled to themselves. Chara, always planning ahead...it was nice to have someone to rely on, even if it was a dead child living in their head. "You really want to see Dad"

 _"What? Why would I? No, I just want to get you to the Barrier and see where things go from there"_

Not wanting to force Chara to say something about their feelings they weren't forthcoming with, Frisk changed topics slightly. "I'll get the tea, and then we'll get going—"

 _"No"_

"Uh?"

 _"Frisk, we shouldn't leave yet. I'll tell you when we should get to Waterfall"_

"But why? I thought you wanted me to see Undyne"

Chara was silent for a moment. They spoke with hesitation, like they weren't sure of what they were saying. _"...it's just a feeling, but I think we should stay away from Waterfall and Hotland tomorrow._

 _Something big is going to happen"_

-ooooo-

Just like promised, Syphus met with Undyne the next day, in front of her house. She seemed to be in much better mood than in that first meeting. Was it because now she liked Syphus a bit more than before? Encouraged by her welcoming behavior, Syphus greeted her cheerfully. "Hey, Undyne! I'm here like you wanted"

"Perfect. You told me you use a halberd. I want to see it" Syphus took out his halberd out of his jacket, giving it to Undyne. Her grin vanished immediately while she took the halberd, weighing it. "This? This is pretty much a toy! You couldn't even split tomatoes with this thing!"

"...it has worked well enough so far" Syphus mumbled, a bit defensive.

Undyne shook the halberd, not impressed with how it wobbled back and forth. "Look how flimsy it is! And the blade – it's all dull and broken! How long have you had this halberd?"

"Almost two weeks..."

"You can't do anything with this one. Good thing I brought a real halberd from the Royal Guard's armory" Undyne put aside the collapsible halberd and entered her house. After a moment she returned outside carrying a solid halberd, with a pole made of shiny steel. "This is what you should have. Here you go" she said, plopping the halberd in Syphus' hands.

 **You obtained the Royal Guard Halberd**

Syphus folded over, clutching the pole of the halberd and trying to lift it. Carrying it around was going to be a problem, especially because it wasn't collapsible. _I'll have to leave it at the village, I guess_ "It's...heavy..."

"Of course it's going to be heavier than the joke of a halberd you had before! This one? This halberd is going to be much stronger" she said with a lot of pride "I'm lending it to you for indeterminate time, with one condition"

"What is it?" With some effort, Syphus managed to lift the halberd enough to lean it on his shoulder.

"Let me teach you how to use a halberd. I don't want to risk you getting hurt because I gave you a real halberd. What do you say?"

It was a rather good idea, actually. Syphus was no more than a novice when it came to halberds and how to move them, having the help of someone who knew what they were doing was good. "I accept. Teach me, captain"

"You don't have to call me captain, you're not even a recruit of the Royal Guard" Undyne materialized a spear as long as the halberd. She extended her arms, showing Syphus her hands "See how I'm holding this? Do the same"

"Like this?" Syphus curled his fingers around the cold steel of the pole.

"Get your fingers closer. If the halberd falls out of your hands, you'll lose any battle you're in" she indicated. Syphus obeyed, gripping the halberd a bit tighter. "Yeah, like that! I'll show you how to swing it—" she moved to grab Syphus' arms. Since she wasn't wearing the armor at that moment, Syphus stepped back, reluctant to get touched. "What?"

"Sorry, I don't want to be touched"

Undyne raised her hands, showing she meant no harm. "I should position your body to show you how you should do it. That's the best way to do things! You'll remember it better if you get into the position!"

Syphus looked at the ground. That made sense, but the risk of ruining his illusion made him fear this could lead to another bad end. "I know, but—"

"I'm not going to hurt you. Come on, trust me"

"I want to trust you, but..." _But it's too dangerous_. Seeing he wasn't going to agree, Undyne nodded.

"Fine. I'll respect that, but I hope someday you trust me enough to let me help you with this. It's true I didn't really like you when we first met, but you're okay. Do you have something against me?"

The piece carefully moved the halberd side to side, trying to get used to its weight. "Not really. It's nothing against you, I just don't like being touched by people I don't know well" That was a believable excuse, wasn't it? At least Undyne accepted it to face value. For a moment Syphus wondered if Alphys had once said something like that about herself, given how Undyne took the lie in stride and without trying to argue.

 **You feel Undyne respects your wishes.**

 **The Undyne Social Link has reached Rank 2!**

 **Your power to create Personas of the Justice Arcana has grown!**

"Okay. Since I can't teach you like I'd teach anyone else then we're going to do something else: build up some strength in those noodle arms of yours! Are you ready?" her enthusiasm returned, ready to make Syphus stronger. _If she's offering who am I to reject her help?_

"I'm ready, captain! Bring it on!"

"Heck yeah! Using a halberd effectively needs a lot of upper-body strength. To build up everything you need we're going to start with these!" she pointed at a bunch of boulders not too far away. Syphus felt himself grow wary of how fast they were going.

"Uh, are you sure I should be lifting _boulders_?"

"Of course I'm sure! Don't worry, we'll start small. I'm not going to shove the biggest boulder around on you. Come over here!"

Just like she said, she wasn't going to force the most difficult training first. Syphus soon found herself working to improve his strength, Undyne turning out to be both a demanding and caring trainer.

"Push forward!" she said, holding the flimsy bamboo pole. They were each holding onto the pole, trying to push the other back "Dig your heels into the ground because here I come! NNNGGAAAAH!"

"U-Undyne, the wall, I'm going to-!"

The bruise on his back would last for quite some time.

Besides trying to build up strength, Undyne decided to help him work on his stance with the halberd. Swinging it and trying to attack were things they'd try next time, but since the stance was the very base of a good attack technique, she claimed they were going to work hard on that too. It'd also help him get used to the weight of the new halberd. "One hand must go over here, the other should go this low" she demonstrated with the bamboo halberd "Your fingers are very long but that shouldn't be a problem"

 _They won't._ Syphus grabbed the steel halberd like Undyne was showing him. "It feels like it's going to slip from my fingers at any moment"

"Grab the halberd like your life depends on it!" the bamboo halberd creaked under Undyne's fingers "Separate your legs a bit more. Don't stand on your toes!"

"Like this?"

Undyne grinned, approving "Yes! I'll now try to tackle you. BRACE YOURSELF!"

"W-Wait, Undyne, I think-!

It felt like a truck ran over him.

A couple hours later, Undyne decided they had trained enough. She went inside her house and brought a bottle of hot water, tossing it to him. "Take this. How do you feel?"

"Sore" Syphus replied, grimacing and rubbing his arms. Was all that the kind of training the Royal Guard had to do every day? They had to be immensely tough! The piece was amazed he wasn't melting right now "I feel like I'm going to faint"

"That's because you're not used to exercising. It'll get easier once you get the hang of it" she took a long gulp of her bottle of warm water "But you didn't do too bad! You're not up to Royal Guard standards, or even up to Papyrus' strength, but you could be doing worse!"

"Do you really think that?"

"Yeah! Of course I do! It'd be better if you were able to use magic, but you could hold your own against many monsters...maybe even against weak humans too" she said. Syphus drank some of his water while she continued "Humans are the ones used to fighting physically, I guess it'd be good for you to train to hold your ground against one"

Syphus stared at his bottle. "Do you really think we'd even have the chance to see a human?" he asked before taking another swig.

"Of course we will! Someday a human will fall in the Underground and – can you stop trying to swallow that bottle?!" she protested, uncomfortable. Syphus left it aside, embarrassed. _Why do I have a snake face, really?_ "Someday a human will fall in the Underground and it'll be monsterkind's duty to take their SOUL"

"...do we have to?" Syphus murmured.

"Of course we have to! It's our _freedom_ on the line. We need seven human SOULs to shatter the Barrier, and no human would give their SOUL voluntarily. We'll need to take it by force!" Undyne narrowed her eye "Or what? Are you going to let yourself be killed by any human that comes down here?"

"Nothing says a human is going to try to kill anyone!"

"Only a fool would risk it! It's either us or them!"

Syphus grasped his head, taking deep breaths to calm down. If he got into a discussion about this, chances are he'd start shouting and say something he'd regret. The thought of everyone in the Hidden Village dying came back to him again, Undyne holding Cohen's SOUL. "You can't—you can't really believe it. This can't be the only way to deal with humans!"

Undyne seemed to be getting angry too, but she avoided lashing out at Syphus. "It doesn't matter if I believe it or not. It's my duty as Captain of the Royal Guard to make sure all the human SOULs are gathered. Everyone wants to be free!" she stood up, raising her voice "I can feel it every day, I feel everyone's hopes of someday leaving this hole in a mountain and see the world! Everyone wants to leave!

I'm going to ensure everyone's hopes are fulfilled!"

It'd be admirable if it didn't involve killing humans. Not wanting to get into a long discussion about this, Syphus decided to leave the matter aside. He simply nodded, mumbling an 'I see'. The two of them stayed in silence, finishing their bottles of water, until Undyne decided it was time to get moving. "I'm going to see Alphys. You want to come too?"

"Me? Really?"

"You're Alphys' friend, and I think you and I are getting along. I saw you were trying to take Alphys' anime the other day. Come with me, we're going to watch something fun"

It wasn't really that bad of a way to spend the day, leaving aside Syphus' total lack of interest in anime. They were nice company, and relaxing for a while was a rather attractive thought. Syphus accepted, the two of them going in direction of Alphys' laboratory. Syphus had to take the halberd with him, still unsure where he'd leave it. By the time they were crossing the bridge to Hotland, Undyne commented something that got Syphus in high alert:

"Hotland feels cold today"

-ooooo-

Sisyphus stared at the board, sweat gathering on his forehead. The pieces on the gameboard showed it clearly: someone was going to fall down. Stopping it wasn't something he was interested in – they did need the materials obtained from defeating Shadow Selves – but something about the way Cornio had positioned everything worried him a lot. It was way more complicated than how the board had looked when Frisk and Ananas had been attacked. He still was staring at the board in silence when a familiar voice sounded behind him.

"I see you two haven't been slacking off while I was away!"

Lucia sat on her seat with neutral expression. Sisyphus simply nodded in acknowledgement of her presence, and Cornio greeted her more effusively. "Look, I'm trying something new"

"And you're doing excellent. I didn't think you'd try such a daring gambit, Cornio!"

"Daring gambit?" Sisyphus really didn't like how that sounded.

"Yes. Cornio has prepared a majestic set of moves that'll leave you reeling back. I can't wait to see it happen" she smiled coyly. Sisyphus, a tad annoyed by her behavior, groaned at that.

"I thought you were going to be my assistant"

"I am your assistant. It doesn't mean I'm going to give you all the answers"

"What do you mean?"

Lucia traced with her finger the edges of the gameboard "Games need to be difficult for you to show all your skills. If a game is boring, it won't lead to any growth. Would you rather Cornio to be a bad opponent?"

"Of course not, but—"

"I got you out of the void because I thought you had potential, but it has been thirty years and your potential hasn't grown at all. Sisyphus..." Lucia lowered her voice, taking a more serious tone "You're my heir. You're aware of that, aren't you?"

"I know, but...sometimes I wonder if I'm really the best person to be the next Witch of Hope"

Lucia scowled at that. "I fully believe you're the right person, and if you believe you're not...we'll see once this game is over. A good Witch of Hope should be able to perceive people's desires and use them for their own purposes. Whether it's to lead them to their doom or help them depends on you.

In a way that's something I'm very interested in seeing...what kind of witch you'd be"

"What kind of witch are you?" Cornio asked her. Lucia flipped her red hair away, replying with indifference:

"I'm the kind of witch that leads to doom"

"What? Why?" the thought of using people's own hopes and desires to cause pain and doom was something Cornio didn't want to understand. His questions in disbelief were more a reflex movement than anything else.

Lucia rested her head on her palm, thoughtful. "Because...the strongest hope is born from adversity? Hmmm...to be honest...I have forgotten why I started thinking that. It has been so long...after dozens of thousands of years one's memory isn't as good as it should be"

 **Lucia's starting to reflect about the meaning of her life as a witch.**

 **The Witch of Hope Social Link has reached Rank 2!**

 **Your power to create Personas of the Star Arcana has grown!**

Lucia stared ahead, lost in thought. After a moment she sighed, glad her blindfold hid the doubt in her eyes. "It doesn't matter that much. What's important is what's going on right now. Keep the story going"

Sisyphus looked at her, a tad concerned. It was rather unusual for Lucia to get contemplative, but there she was, playing with her hair with her finger and staring at the wall instead of the gameboard. "Will you be okay?"

"Maybe I shouldn't have brought that up" Cornio said. Lucia, still staring at the wall, waved her hand lazily, focused on whatever was going through her head.

"No, it's fine. It's nothing you wouldn't have found out, Cornio. I admit it: I'm an evil witch. I guess I should at least remember _why_ I'm like this..." she glanced at him "Don't pay attention to me, keep playing"

-ooooo-

Alphys was rather happy to see Undyne, and her happiness morphed into surprise when Undyne mentioned she had brought Syphus. Her surprise increased when Undyne boasted about how she had been training Syphus that day. "He's not too bad! Syphus may be miles behind Papyrus and I, but he's not a random wimpy loser!"

"No?" Alphys didn't realize she was grinning, amused.

"No! He's a wimpy loser with potential to be more than that! Thank you, Alphys, for forcing me to deal with him the other day" _I'm still unsure if I should feel insulted or honored._

Although Alphys didn't seem entirely happy about Syphus being here, when Syphus asked if she preferred him to leave she hurried to say he didn't have to leave. "Undyne brought you here, I don't mind having you around today..." The usual time Undyne and her spent enjoying each other's company now had a third wheel. Although she didn't mind, she really hoped this wouldn't happen often.

Watching anime was the plan of the day again. The three of them watched anime, featuring a lot of mechas and fighting. There was no doubt Undyne was the one who had chosen it. "Look at that! Alphys, they punched that thing out to outer space!"

"I-It was very cool" she said.

"We should make a mecha of our own. It's the next step after what you did before"

"What do you mean?" Syphus asked. Undyne turned her head away from the screen, beaming with pride.

"Alphys got her job by impressing Asgore. She got _the king_ so impressed he didn't hesitate to give her the job!"

Despite Undyne's gushing, Alphys seemed to be getting distraught. "It wasn't that impressive..."

"It was _very_ impressive! Syphus, Alphys made a robot with a SOUL. That was a major feat! Asgore has all his faith place on her! That was a damn good decision, if you ask me!"

"...Undyne...?"

"That does sound very impressive" Syphus admitted, looking at Alphys from the corner of his eye. The royal scientist was sinking more and more in the couch. Undyne, too focused on singing the praises of Alphys, grinned widely.

"I'm doing everything I can to help her. I see it all the time, I see her passion, her drive to achieve it! And you know what? I'm sure I'm not the only one who believes in her" somehow, something that sounded so positive was what had the worst effect on Alphys. Alphys started to sweat heavily, and even though she tried to dry hear head with her sleeve it was largely ineffective.

"...I-I have to go" Alphys stood up from the couch, avoiding to look at Syphus and Undyne, and went upstairs. Her sudden departure got Undyne to stop talking, noticing now the effect her praise was having on Alphys. The captain's mouth formed a thin line, regretful.

"Darn it...Alphys is modest, but a person can be _too_ modest. She should be proud of her achievements; don't you think?" Syphus didn't reply to that, so Undyne stood up from the couch too. Syphus was the only one still seated, staying on his chair "I'm going to the lab"

Syphus's feathers stood up, alarmed. Wait what? Undyne could go down to the true laboratory? Alphys was fine with somebody going to her real laboratory? That was a remarkably big change, given Alphys' behavior. "Are you sure you should do that?" Syphus inquired, his eyelid twitching a bit. There had to be an explanation here! Undyne either didn't notice or didn't pay attention to Syphus' sudden alertness, dismissive, while going towards the elevator – elevator Syphus just noticed wasn't disguised as a bathroom.

"It's fine. I'm with Alphys there all the time. When you see her tell her I went downstairs" she said, opening the elevator and entering. The ding of the elevator before it started descending echoed in the laboratory, waking Syphus from his stupor. _Of course things are changing...but why? What about the Amalgamates, about what Alphys is hiding downstairs?_ He didn't understand, what had changed? Not having an answer, Syphus ascended to the second floor of the Hotland laboratory, to tell Alphys that Undyne had gone to the real laboratory. Before going up he glanced at the halberd he had left near the elevator.

The more Syphus ascended, the colder he felt, to the point where he started seeing his breath in the air. Alphys didn't seem to notice, though. She was standing in front of a work table, staring at an object in her palm. "Alphys?"

Alphys had been feeling more and more guilty the more Undyne talked. If she knew everything was based on a misunderstanding – misunderstanding she had turned into an outright lie to not only Asgore, but to the Underground as a whole – then she'd leave Alphys. She'd hate her. Who wouldn't? Everyone would hate Alphys for lying to them. One lie more for the already sizable pile of lies, but this one...this is what her whole life relied on right now. Her job, her achievements, everything had started because everybody believed she had created Mettaton and given him a SOUL.

It wasn't like she had any way out of that lie, and she knew it.

When Alphys had gone upstairs, trying to run away from Undyne's constant reminders of how everybody thought she'd help break the Barrier, her pacing had led her to her work table, where a finished cellphone laid on it. Her throat constricted when seeing that, feeling her mouth dry all of a sudden. There she had been recently, working on once _another_ lie. There was no doubt, she had gotten used to fooling people constantly. Despite how many times she had done it yet, it hadn't gotten any easier for her conscience, though. Her guilt kept increasing every day.

Syphus' voice snapped her out of her contemplative state. She left on the work table the finished cellphone for that human child with the striped sweater. "Oh. Hi"

"Undyne went to the laboratory on the basement. Thought you should know"

"Th-Thanks...I'll go see her" she said. She didn't seem shocked or worried about Undyne being in the true laboratory. _Does that mean she has nothing to hide there_? Alphys shivered. "It's cold today...Syphus, can you pass me another lab coat? It's in that closet over there" Syphus did what indicated, opening the closet full of dirty lab coats and one single clean dress, and passed it to Alphys.

Unsure if he would be allowed to go to the true laboratory – or if he even should be there – Syphus decided to leave. "I'm leaving now. Alphys, there's something I'd like to ask of you"

"What's it?"

"This is going to sound strange, but don't leave Undyne alone" Being with someone else should diminish the chances of them being attacked, right? This cold, he remembered it from the other two times someone had fallen down. Did it mean Undyne was in danger? He had started feeling the cold while he was with her in Waterfall, after all. _Undyne is alone in the true laboratory. What if she already was...?_

"What do you mean?"

Syphus slowly walked in front of Alphys' work desk and put his hands in the pockets of his jacket "She wants to spend time with you, that's it" It was a bad excuse, but it was good enough. Alphys nodded, so the piece decided to take his leave "See you, Alphys"

"B-Bye..." she said halfheartedly. Syphus descended the stairs, and seconds later Alphys heard the sound of the doors opening and closing. The scientist sighed, changing lab coats and putting on the one Syphus had given her. If Undyne was waiting for her then she had to go see her. Steeling herself and trying to not look at disheartened as she felt, Alphys descended the stairs. There seemed to be no one in the ground floor. Alphys turned off the TV and went to the elevator that'd take her to the true laboratory, humming to soothe herself while she waited. She did notice the halberd to the side of the elevator. "Oh...he forgot it..." Better tell Undyne to give it to him later.

The doors of the elevator opened.

-ooooo-

Undyne wasn't very fond of Alphys' true laboratory. It was a cold and dreary place. It was kept clean and tidy, but Undyne preferred places that weren't as constrained and cramped as this one. That's why instead of walking further into the laboratory, she decided to wait for Alphys to come down. Surely Syphus would tell her Undyne was waiting down here! It had just been like five minutes, but it felt longer than that.

The murmur of the elevator descending got her attention. That elevator was rather noisy; she had told that to Alphys many times. _...wait..._ The elevator's murmur was sounding way faster than usual...and it sounded even louder than usual...

Undyne barely had time to jump back before the elevator crashed. The steel doors and the wall took most of the brunt, but the impact was strong enough to make dirt fall from the ceiling. For a moment Undyne could only stare at the steel doors, aghast. The elevator crashed – was Alphys riding it? _Alphys!_ She could be in danger! She could be hurt, or...such a strong impact could...she could...

"ALPHYYYS!"

Undyne jumped forward at a surprising speed, grabbing the thin slit between the steel doors and started to push them apart. The doors slowly parted, pushed aside by Undyne's impressive strength. As soon as she could, Undyne put the side of her face with her good eye right against the doors, peering inside.

The inside of the elevator was ruined. The steel frame was deformed, crumpled like a can somebody stepped on. The floor was cracked, even broken in some places. The buttons on the back of the elevator had fallen out of its sockets. And on the bottom of the broken elevator, there was something white and yellow. "NO!" Undyne pulled apart the doors further enough for her to enter and pick up Alphys from the floor.

"ALPHYS! WAKE UP!" Undyne picked up Alphys carefully. She seemed unharmed, but it wasn't like Undyne could know for sure. No, she had to get help for Alphys...she had to get help! Get out of this laboratory and find someone who could make sure Alphys was okay! There was a place in New Home where that could be done, wasn't there? A clinic, so to say. Yeah, they'd know what to do. Undyne stood up, clutching Alphys and feeling the weight of uncertainty and fear in her heart.

"Hang on, Alphys, I'll get help for you! Please, wake up!"

 **CHECK**

 **CHECKMATE IN ONE TURN?**

* * *

 **SOCIAL LINKS:**

 **Fool - Frisk - RANK 4**

 **Magician - Burgerpants - RANK 2**

 **Priestess - Alphys - RANK 3**

 **Empress - Toriel - RANK 2**

 **Emperor - Cohen - RANK 3**

 **Hierophant - Ciruel - RANK 2**

 **Lovers - ? - RANK 0**

 **Chariot - Ananas - RANK 5**

 **Justice - Undyne - RANK 2**

 **Hermit - ? - RANK 0**

 **Fortune - ? - RANK 0**

 **Strength - ? - RANK 0**

 **Hanged Man - ? - RANK 0**

 **Death - Cornio - RANK 2**

 **Temperance - ? - RANK 0**

 **Devil - ? - RANK 0**

 **Tower - ? - RANK 0**

 **Star - Lucia - RANK 2**

 **Moon - ? - RANK 0**

 **Sun - Papyrus - RANK 3**

 **Judgment - Team - RANK 1**

 **Aeon - Syphus - RANK 2**

 **Jester - Alphonse - RANK 2**


	21. Alphys' SOUL

Alphys' real laboratory had two elevators: one she used to go to the Hotlands laboratory where she lived, and the other to be able to go to New Home and the MTT Resort if she wanted. Knowing that, Undyne held tight onto Alphys' unconscious body and hurried to the other elevator, pressing the button to get to New Home. When the elevator doors opened and she stepped outside, to New Home's gray pathways, she shoved the crowd aside. Many monsters tried to stop her, asking what had happened, but she ignored them, going straight to the hospital.

"Undyne?" a familiar voice had asked her. She turned her head around, finding Syphus standing not too far away. He had been on his way to the Castle – or so he said later to Undyne. The snake monster looked at Alphys, his mouth hanging open. "What happened? Why's Alphys-?" There was no time for banal questions. Undyne didn't reply, continuing her way "Hey!" She didn't stop Syphus from following her.

The New Home hospital was a small building, made of gray stone like everything else in the capital. Given the small quantity of monster population in the Underground and the many uses of magic to heal and keep monsters healthy, there were no more than a dozen rooms at the hospital, only around half of them occupied with monsters who had fallen down, close to the end of their lives. Besides them, only three monsters more rested at the hospital, receiving treatment for conditions they hadn't been able to deal with by themselves. Alphys was quickly interned and left in her room, she was quickly assessed while Undyne and Syphus stood outside.

The prognosis wasn't good: Alphys really had fallen down and was at the brink of death. When Undyne heard that, she slid down the wall until she was sitting on the floor, dazed. Alphys was going to die? Impossible! Just an hour ago she looked healthy – how did this happen? Was it the elevator crash? Once the medic left, Undyne looked at Syphus, who had taken the news with unexpected stoicism. There he was, looking into Alphys' room with a strange expression. For a moment Undyne felt a revolting feeling of disgust. How could he look like what was happening was no worse than a minor inconvenience?! She wanted to shake him, shout at him about how he could stay so calm while his friend was dying. "What are you thinking?" Undyne asked, trying to stay civil. Lashing out at Syphus wouldn't be of any help.

Syphus stared at the floor. "It was so sudden...I wouldn't have guessed this'd happen to her. How did she look last time you saw her?"

"When I saw her she had gone upstairs; you saw it too!" she replied. Syphus was silent for a moment before approaching her. His voice did show he was trying to stay calm, like he was bottling more intense emotions right now.

"Are you going to stay with her?"

"What kind of stupid question is that? Of course I'm staying here! I can't leave Alphys alone!" her reply made Syphus wince. Had she shouted too loud? Syphus nodded, said a farewell and walked away. His calmness was infuriating, Undyne threw back her fist like she was going to punch a wall, but refrained from doing it. Damaging the hospital was going to do more harm than good. After taking a deep breath, she entered Alphys' room, sitting to the bedside.

She was going to stay with Alphys as much as she could.

-ooooo-

There was no doubt in Syphus' mind that what happened to Alphys was the same than Frisk and Ananas had gone through. That meant he'd need to use the firefly brooch on Alphys. The problem was Undyne. Distracting her enough for him and Ananas to do their task could be difficult to do, and showing themselves as humans in front of the captain of the Royal Guard seemed like a spectacularly bad idea. Picking up Ananas from the Village was easy. Once she heard that somebody had fallen down, she immediately changed into her cowboy costume, picked up their hooded cloaks, and went with him, making sure her gun was loaded. Curiously enough, there was no sign of Cohen. Where did the old man go? "Who are we rescuing?"

"Alphys" The blank stare from Ananas said it all: she didn't have the slightest idea who that monster was.

Making sure Ananas was wearing her cloak and hiding her face, Syphus led her to Hotland, having remembered he had left the steel halberd at Alphys' laboratory. Luckily for him, the doors opened easily, letting him pick up the steel halberd before going to the hospital, wrapping it the best he could with his own cloak so he could enter with it to the hospital. To cover it even more, he shamelessly rummaged through Alphys' lab coats, using most of them. _Sorry, Alphys, this is kind of urgent!_

Getting to Alphys' room was unexpectedly simple. Even though Syphus entered with a long object wrapped in a thick layer of clothing and accompanied by a short cloaked person, the monster at the reception desk didn't even look up from her work. Not wanting to risk Ananas being discovered if they dillydallied for too long, they hurried to the outside of Alphys' room. Undyne was still inside, sitting there with forlorn expression. Ananas' face got a bit pale when she was told Undyne was there, but to her credit she didn't try to run away. "Undyne...we won't fight her, right?" she asked, badly disguising how much she wanted to avoid a fight with Undyne.

"I hope not. If we can think of a way to distract her and keep her outside of the room while we do our thing, we should be okay"

Ananas breathed in relief at being told they wouldn't have to fight Undyne. She closed the hood of her cloak a bit more, hiding her face further. "I have an idea. Wait here" she said before running away in direction of the entrance of the hospital. Just in case, Syphus made a SAVE point, hoping he wouldn't have to LOAD to stop Ananas. A couple minutes later the receptionist came to the room, peering inside. Syphus went to hide nearby

"Captain Undyne, there's an urgent message for you from the Royal Guard headquarters"

"What?!" Undyne stood up "What did they say?"

"I don't know, captain. I wasn't told the exact details"

Undyne looked intermittently at the receptionist and Alphys before nodding, leaving the bedroom and not seeing Syphus. The receptionist followed suit, going back to her usual spot. As soon as those two walked away, Ananas appeared from behind the corner, the hints of an impish grin visible from underneath her hood. "Done!"

"...how did you..." _Okay, I can't complain._ What was important was that Ananas managed to get Undyne out of the room. It was likely Undyne was going to run as fast as possible to the headquarters, quickly finding out there was no urgent message, and return to the hospital. Could they finish their task before Undyne returned? _No way._ "Help me move this bed, Annie" Syphus said, managing to get behind the back of Alphys' bed and pushing it forward. Between the two of them they blocked the door with the bed, the still unconscious Alphys lying on it.

"I don't think this is going to stop Undyne, Syphus"

"It won't, yeah..." Syphus was banking on Undyne not wanting to harm Alphys by shoving the door open by force. That should gain them a bit more of time. Not much, but maybe it'd be enough. Syphus also moved a chair to the side of Alphys' bed, positioning it on the blind spot between the door and the wall, close enough for him to lean and touch Alphys once it was time. "Hide under the bed, Annie"

"Oh, I almost forgot, I took these from the reception too!" Ananas took out of her vest several small boxes, filled with some sort of mush. The label on the box said it was hospital food. "This should be good, right?"

"I don't think you should take food that doesn't belong to you" Syphus frowned, then thought it twice, mumbling to himself slowly "Then again, this is hospital food...made for patients...surely it's also full of healing magic...and it isn't like they can't make more later...you know what, let's take it" _Better to have something to heal ourselves_. After making sure Ananas was hiding under the bed and grabbing Syphus' shoe, and that Syphus had the halberd with him, he pinned the firefly brooch on Alphys' hospital gown, making sure to keep it out of sight from anyone who peers inside. He still didn't want to risk someone taking off the brooch before they were done. "Are you ready, Annie?"

"I'm ready" Ananas said, her hand gripping his shoe a bit tighter. Syphus made a SAVE point and put his hand over the firefly brooch. Well...here goes nothing! He thought, pressing the brooch and activating it. The now-familiar sensations of blacking out enveloped him.

-ooooo-

Syphus didn't even have to open his eyes to notice that whatever place he was at was strangely bright. Once he opened his eyes he found out where he was at. It seemed Alphys' SOUL had taken the shape of the True Laboratory, but it was way different than Syphus remembered it. Perhaps it was because they were right now in a monster SOUL?

Frisk's and Ananas' had been desaturated, almost dark, but Alphys' SOUL was turning out to be rather bright, almost unnaturally so. The walls were completely intact, the floor was clean and shiny, and the atmosphere generally showed it to be much different than surely it was in reality. Could the Shadows be different than human SOULs too? It was unavoidable they'd find out very soon.

The biggest change was that there was a bright blue door nearby, door Syphus recognized. It was identical to the one he had seen at the Ruins, Snowdin and Waterfall. Opening it confirmed it led to the Velvet Room. Taking advantage that Ananas still was out-cold, Syphus decided to enter quick to the Velvet Room and create a few Personas, make use of the strength they'd gain from his recent Social Links.

When he returned, Ananas was awake and walking around with her gun ready. "How do you feel, Annie?"

"...I don't know. This place feels...off. Is this how my SOUL was?"

"Kinda. Don't lower your guard. Let me see your Persona" Ananas nodded and lifted her hands high, shouting 'Hippolyta!' Unlike her attempt in the real world, this time there was a blue glow coming out of her, which gathered and formed the Persona. The girl with the excessively large axe levitated, indolent _._ Ananas confirmed that yes, Hippolyta knew fire magic and was weak to electricity.

"What's yours? Show me your Persona"

Syphus smirked, getting ready. He had just made a Persona fueled by his bond with Ananas, so to say. His Rank 5 Social Link with her had allowed him to give a rather good amount of power to one of the Personas he fused, most likely giving him the edge against what may come. Syphus focused, prideful, summoning the Persona.

Shiki-Ouji of the Chariot arcana was a rather tall Persona, almost reaching the ceiling of the laboratory. It seemed to be entirely made of paper, a veritable golem of paper that towered over them and looked intimidating thanks to its size, despite what it was made of. Ananas stared at Shiki-Ouji's horns, impressed. "This big guy here is immune to fire and ice. You could hit it with Agi spells and I'd feel absolutely nothing" Syphus bragged. If he had a higher rank in his Chariot Social Link, it would also have been immune to physical attacks, but it hadn't been high enough for that.

Now that he thought about it, the Social Links really were showing their use. Besides Shiki-Ouji, he also had made other Personas, another of the Chariot and one of the Magician Arcana. There had been a fourth one, for healing purposes, but given that he had no Social Link of the Temperance arcana, it received no boost in its power.

After making sure to check what each one was weak and strong against, Ananas and Syphus decided to get a move on, walking slowly and staying alert against any Shadows that may approach. It felt like any normal trip inside a SOUL...at least during the first few minutes, but after around five minutes without seeing not even traces of any Shadows, Syphus started getting worried. _Is this normal?_ "It's empty around here" Ananas commented, wary of how calm everything seemed to be.

"Keep your eyes open" Syphus raised the steel halberd a bit more. They continued in silence for a while more until they say something in the distance. _A Shadow!_ Preparing Ara Mitama for a quick physical attack, Syphus approached. The small red drop materialized in the air, staying a bit behind Syphus, ready to tackle the Shadow at the first opportunity. Ananas also got ready, raising her hand in preparation to summon Hippolyta.

There was no need for such precautions. When Syphus approached closer, he started recognizing what it was – how not to recognize her, when she had been a Persona he had once? That beautiful green woman with a red dress? The shock of seeing Silky made Syphus stop, mouth agape. Ara Mitama disappeared. "What? What's going on? What are you waiting for?" Ananas whispered behind him, still in high alert. That seemed to have gotten Silky's attention. She turned around, floating in the air, and with the serene smile on her face.

"Oh. Greetings. Do you need something?"

 _What's going on?! Is she...really talking to us?_ Was that how monster SOULs were going to be? "Uh...no...not really?" Syphus murmured. Ananas, who also hadn't expected Silky to speak, dropped her hand, watching and unsure what to do.

"Alright. I won't bother you" Silky bowed politely and floated away. After a moment of befuddled staring in the direction Silky went away to, Syphus gingerly grabbed the side of his head, still astonished.

"What the hell was _that_?!"

-ooooo-

Silky wasn't the only "Persona" in Alphys' SOUL. They definitely weren't mere Shadows, the lack of masks and the ability to talk showed it. _Would calling them Personas be accurate? How am I supposed to know?_

The presence of "Personas" and the lack of Shadows didn't mean there was no danger, though. Not all of those "Personas" were willing to overlook Syphus and Ananas' presence. Kodama – a strange paper-thin talisman with red spirals on its head and body – was the first sign they still needed to be cautious. Not too long after Silky was encountered, they stumbled upon Kodama in another hallway. Ananas and Syphus tried to ignore it, but Kodama noticed them. It tried to call for them with its whispery voice, making the duo walk faster. When the voice turned raspy and menacing, Ananas glanced back and shouted, having turned her head around to see the moment Kodama was ripped apart from the inside by Shadows.

Ananas screamed, stepping back when the Anguish Basalt and the Brilliant Cyclops emerged from Kodama. "Syphus, watch out!"

"Got it!" Syphus raised the halberd, quickly evaluating the situation. A quick analysis showed physical attacks against the Basalt wouldn't be effective, so he focused his efforts on the Cyclops despite the spikes, making it spin on its place.

"I'll deal with this!" Ananas claimed, jumping back to dodge the Basalt trying to crush her and summoned Hippolyta. A burst of fire emerged from the tip of Hippolyta's axe, hitting the Basalt in the air. The Shadow was propelled back a bit, almost crushing the Cyclops.

"Annie, wait until it's in the air again! You'll know what to do!" Syphus said, using the butt of the halberd to keep the Cyclops away, it was trying to spin and harm Syphus with its spikes. Ananas, quickly deducing what Syphus was thinking, shouted at the Basalt.

"Hey, you big dumb rock! Try to crush me if you can!" she challenged. The Basalt didn't react to the taunt, it simply jumped again to try to crush Ananas. Having wanted that, the girl immediately made Hippolyta smack the Basalt with her axe, rocketing it towards the Cyclops and pulverized it, making it vanish in black smoke.

Syphus grinned widely, stepping back to give it the final blow. "My turn!" he shouted, summoning Orobas. The red horse person jumped in the air, clinging to the top of the Basalt, the Shadow tried to move and get the humanoid horse off it, but Orobas held on it tightly. "Fire!" Syphus shouted right when from Orobas' palms emerged bursts of fire, hurting the Basalt until it dissolved away. That had been overall an easy fight, despite the surprise of Shadows appearing out of a "Persona". Syphus held his hand for a high five, elated. Having two people in a team really did make things easier! "Okay, new plan: we won't ignore any of those things if they talk to us. Got it?"

"Do you think there are more of those?"

"Many more, I'd say. With some luck we won't have more trouble, but...let's not get cocky" At least now they knew what to expect from the "Personas" around.

-ooooo-

 _Why, when things seem to be simple and nice, it turns out it's harder than it should be?_

Not enraging the "Personas" was much more difficult than Syphus or Ananas had expected. The "Personas" were very unpredictable. Sometimes the simple act of talking to them was enough for them to burst into Shadows, forcing the team to fight for their lives. Other times Syphus or Ananas said something that would logically enrage the "Personas", but it ended making them react cheerfully and let them continue their way. One of them had even given them gold when Ananas challenged him to a fight. "It's nice to see today's youth don't let people walk all over them" it had said, plopping several hundred gold in Ananas' hands before flying away. "Syphus, where did the Shadows get gold?"

"How do you expect me to know? I stopped trying to make any sense of all this" he said.

The fights were generally easy, Hippolyta always hit quite strongly, and if there was any need for more support besides the halberd Syphus always had a Persona ready to help. Despite that, they both suffered hits, painful enough for them to agree try to find some kind of armor once they returned to the real world.

They were in middle of walking and eating some of their stolen hospital food when they found someone familiar standing in front of a large steel door. The yellow monster in a lab coat was unmistakable. "Alphys?" Syphus hurried to her. They did it! They found Alphys in record time! The royal scientist turned around, having heard Syphus calling for her.

The golden eyes said it all.

Ananas, not knowing the detail about the golden eyes nor knowing Alphys at all, tried to approach her, but Syphus stopped her. Shadow Alphys didn't make any move to try to hurt them, staring and waiting them to do the first move. Syphus didn't get on the offensive, but positioned himself so he'd be able to use the halberd at the first sign of danger. Ananas, noticing how tense he was, prepared to summon Hippolyta. _Well we can't stay here staring at each other's faces all day._ "Alphys. Let's get going"

His disposition to attack at any moment made Shadow Alphus get her guard up. She stared at them, recognizing the girl. When she talked there was no sign of Alphys' stutter, her tone sounded more certain, almost like an entirely different person "I know you. You're that human girl that's at Waterfall"

"Don't talk to her!"

Shadow Alphys ignored that, smiling smugly. "I knew you existed. I knew it! And you..." she turned to Syphus "...you're Syphus. Those clothes, your size – it's all the same. You're Syphus, aren't you?"

"So what if I am?"

The Shadow Self laughed softly, almost squeeing in joy. "That's pretty much a confession! I knew it! Of course I knew it, I'm always right!" she grinned almost unnaturally "Don't tell anyone, but I'm _very_ smart"

 _Oh. Of course_. Shadow Selves were supposed to be parts of themselves everyone suppressed and kept away from sight for one reason or another. What had Undyne said? 'A person can be too modest. Alphys should be prouder of her accomplishments' _Looks like we found Alphys' confidence and pride_. "Alphys, we need to get going. Stop that already"

"That's going to be a problem. You're looking for my other self" she pointed with her thumb at the metal door behind her "The other me is behind this door. Looks like she locked herself in there"

"She...locked herself? How could she do that?" Ananas asked to Syphus, but Shadow Alphys took the chance to answer that.

"This world is my SOUL, and it can reflect what my other self feels. She's trying to isolate herself from the truths she doesn't want to face" Shadow Alphys explained "All you have to do is find a way through this door" she stepped aside to give access to Ananas and Syphus. Thinking that there may be a bit of truth in what Shadow Alphys just said - supposing she hadn't already possessed Alphys – he wordlessly indicated Ananas to examine the door. He'd be in charge of watching Shadow Alphys and react if she tried to hurt anyone.

Ananas approached the steel door, examining it and the place it was at. The True Laboratory was shiny and clean, but near the door there was a serious state of disrepair. The walls were slightly cracked, the paint was peeling off, and the floor was grimy, almost sticky. Was the real Alphys really behind it? "It's so dirty" Ananas said, rubbing the door with her hand and seeing the stains of grease and dirt on her fingers.

"Any hints on how to open it?" Syphus asked, not looking away from Shadow Alphys, who didn't seem to care about his constant vigilance.

"I don't see – wait! There's something here!" Ananas wiped the grimy filth off a part of the door, revealing what was under it. There was a small inverted heart, where three locks could be seen, one at each end of the heart "I think we need three keys to open this door, Syphus. Have we picked up a key?"

"Not yet. We only have rocks and metal so far" Hearing keys being mentioned seemed to get Shadow Alphys' attention, who started rummaging through the pockets of her lab coat

"I can help with that. Take it" she took out a key from the pocket, golden in color "...with one condition: you'll let me go with you to the other side of the door"

Syphus instinctively was going to refuse, but instead he tried to find more information. "And why'd you want that?"

"I want to see the other me. There's a few truths I want to tell her" _What you want is to take over her!_

"I don't think she needs to hear any of your truths"

"Then you won't be able to enter there" Shadow Alphys put the key back into her pocket "I'm not giving it to you unless I go too. Bargaining isn't an option here"

"Wow, this Alphys person must be a tough bandit" Ananas murmured to herself. _Tough bandit?_ There wasn't really much time to think about Shadow Alphys' demands. Taking the key by force was an option, but...somehow, fighting and risking harming or killing a Shadow Self seemed a bit dangerous. Not wanting to do something that could be a mistake, Syphus sighed and nodded.

"Fine. You'll come with us"

Shadow Alphys grinned slightly. What would be an otherwise dorky face was sinister when done by Shadow Alphys. "Thank you. Of course, as I _hope_ you both noticed, we need two keys more. I'm sure other Shadows have them"

Ananas adjusted her hat. "Are we going to fight them?"

" _You_ are going to fight them, if necessary. I'm not a fighter"

At least Shadow Alphys was going to try to make herself useful. She started guiding the team, navigating the halls of Alphys' SOUL with ease. "Over here the Shadows are very strong. If my deductions are correct, one of the keys should be there" she was saying, pointing at a section of the laboratory.

"Uh, Syphus...? I think I don't like doing what she says..." Ananas mumbled, nervous about fighting strong Shadows.

"We don't really have any other option here"

-ooooo-

"We should fight her and take the key, Syphus, why are we doing what she says?"

"We have to"

"But she's evil! I thought we had to fight the copies to rescue people, why aren't we fighting her?"

"Let's wait and see what happens"

"Fine! But I still don't like it"

"You two know I'm hearing every word you're saying, right?"

The three of them were traversing Alphys' SOUL. Contrary to what Syphus had expected, Shadow Alphys was actually being moderately helpful! The team had gotten into more fights, and this time Syphus didn't even need to ask for analysis. Shadow Alphys informed them of what weakness their foes had. "Those over there are weak to fire. You know what to do" she'd say just from glancing at the Shadows. If it hadn't been for her, fights would have been harder. Neither Ananas nor Syphus was happy about having to let her tag along, but they both were silently grateful for her tips.

It didn't mean they liked Shadow Alphys, though. Syphus vastly preferred the Alphys he knew, mostly because Alphys didn't lord her intelligence over everyone else. Everything Shadow Alphys said was correct, but she tended to remind them that without her they wouldn't know it. It had gotten old rather fast.

Ananas peeked around the corner, seeing their target somewhat away, as indicated by Shadow Alphys. "There's a big one over there! I think it's...an angel!"

"An angel? Let me see" Syphus said, looking as well. Ananas wasn't wrong, that definitely was an angel, and one that could be dangerous, judging by how it was wearing a knight's armor and holding a sword. The angel floated in the air, held there by its large wings.

"Think it twice before making it angry. I sense powerful Shadows within it" Shadow Alphys said, backing off a bit. She didn't even take a look at what it was, exactly "It has one of the keys"

"Syphus, you think we'd be able to fight it?" Ananas whispered, pressing her back against the wall. That thing looked very strong! Hippolyta was no slouch, but this was her first expedition, she didn't feel prepared for a powerful opponent.

"...it's not like we'd have much of an option. Let's just try to not anger it"

"Good luck. I'm staying here" Shadow Alphys said indifferently, receiving glares from both humans. Syphus _really_ wished the real Alphys was here instead of her Shadow. The team slowly walked towards Archangel, ready to fight if needed.

Archangel saw them coming and didn't make a move to threaten them. Instead it descended to the ground, the tip of the sword touching the ground. _Okay, here we go_... "Give us the key" Syphus demanded without even bothering to say a greeting. Archangel's expression continued stony, guarded.

"I have no reason to do such thing"

"So you do have the key!" Ananas said.

"I do. The door this key belongs to shall stay closed"

The girl glared at Archangel from beneath her hat "We need that key. You'll give it to us"

Suddenly, Archangel sprung forward, propelled by its wings, but instead of aiming to Ananas it aimed to Syphus, extending its hand towards his head. Syphus didn't have time to react before Archangel grabbed him from the neck, slamming him against the wall – making him drop the halberd - and pointing the tip of the sword at his chest. Countering quickly, Syphus made Shiki-Ouji materialize right behind Archangel, raising a fist and looking prepared to smash Archangel's head. To its side there was Hippolyta, aiming the hole at the end of her axe at Archangel's wings.

"Let him go" Ananas demanded, aiming her gun as well. Archangel looked at each danger, judging that although it'd be able to kill Syphus, everything else would manage to hit and destroy it in no time. It didn't acknowledge Ananas, instead identifying Syphus as the leader of the group and talking to him.

"I will give you the key – if you manage to obtain the third one. Until then I'm going to keep it. Understood?" it said. Syphus' eyes darted around. It wasn't like he had options, if he refused he was as good as dead, and although he would return to the SAVE state before entering Alphys' SOUL, dying was an experience he wanted to avoid. He nodded and was dropped unceremoniously, Shiki-Ouji vanishing due to Syphus getting distracted. He coughed, still feeling like Archangel's strong hand was around his neck, while Ananas approached and helped him stand up. Archangel didn't make a gesture to help them, instead returning to the air. _That thing's going to pay_ Syphus thought bitterly, being led away once he picked up his halberd. There was one last key to find, after all.

Shadow Alphys followed them, not commenting about what she had seen. "The other key should be in that direction. The odds a strong Shadow has it are rather low"

"Yeah, whatever" Syphus grumbled "Why are you helping us, anyway? You could have let us trek around by ourselves"

She shrugged, pointedly not looking at Syphus' eyes. "You two are my ticket to reaching the other me. If any of you die that door will stay closed"

"Are you sure that's all?" Ananas asked "You're the evil version of this Alphys monster, but you're not being too evil"

"Annie..." Syphus warned, although Shadow Alphys didn't seem offended. Shadow Selves weren't inherently 'evil', apparently. They could be merciless and not hesitate to kill them – judging by his experience with another two – but it wasn't like they were evil twins of the person they represented.

-ooooo-

"Are you sure that's the right one?"

"Completely sure" Shadow Alphys nodded emphatically. Koppa Tengu didn't seem like a dangerous creature, but then again, appearances were deceiving, especially when it was about Personas and Shadows. They couldn't lower their guard. The "Persona" they were eyeing resembled a short person with wings and a mask depicting a bird, quite different from Archangel.

"You think we'll have to find something for this one too?" Ananas wondered. Syphus frowned.

"I hope not. I wasn't planning for this mission to turn into a series of fetch quests" Two of them approached Koppa Tengu, Shadow Alphys staying behind like before. They waited for Koppa Tengu to notice them, when the masked person with bird wings saw them, it froze in the air. "Uh? W-What? What's this—who are you?"

Ananas trained her gun on it. "Give us the key you have _"_ The "Persona" didn't react as badly as it could have, no Shadow burst out of its body. Instead is screeched like a crow and started flying away, shedding feathers all over the place. "Hey!"

"Don't let it get away!" Syphus shouted, starting to run. Ananas, being younger and shorter, was left behind a bit, although he didn't notice. Koppa Tengu was flying rather noisily, the flapping of its wings echoing in the hallways. Objects like beds, sinks, lush plants, it all was thrown in the way by the target, forcing Syphus to jump over all that to try to reach it. Not being as athletic as he should be, Syphus was rather slowed down by that, until he lost sight of the target, having arrived to a place where three different hallways diverted from the one they were at. "Damn it!"

"What? Where did it go?" Ananas asked once she managed to reach him.

"I don't know! It was here a second ago!"

Shadow Alphys arrived, walking as if this was a leisure trip and not a pursue to catch something they needed. She was completely focused on what was going on, even if her speed didn't show it. "It's over there, to your right. That hall twists to the left and into a circle, ending here" she pointed at the middle hallway"

"Oh. Really? Let's see...Annie, can you block this way?"

Ananas nodded, Hippolyta forming in the air. The girl and her Persona stood at the end of the middle hallway, prepared for when the target would come. Since this end of the hall was secured, Syphus entered to the right, finding Koppa Tengu not too far into it, shaking with fear. Its body and clothes were marred with cracks that oozed smoke, it seemed to be on the verge of shattering and releasing the Shadows inside. "Come on, give the key and we'll leave you alone!" Syphus shouted, brandishing his halberd and preparing to strike. Koppa Tengu shook, the cracks closing a bit.

"I-I'm not going to l-let you go in...I won't let you..."

"We're not going to hurt Alphys! Give it now!"

"No!" it went flying again. _I had enough of this!_ He followed Koppa Tengu, driving it to where Ananas and Shadow Alphys were waiting. The girl smirked, having expected it.

"Cleave it!" she shouted, Hippolyta raising her axe and swinging it to hit the target on its chest...and missed "W-What?"

"I-I-I-I-I'm not g-giving this to you-!" the target shouted, not noticing the single line of magic bullets that blocked the way. It crashed against the bullets, the damage being enough to knock it down from the air. Koppa Tengu fell, unmoving.

"Got it!" Ananas got on the target's back, right behind its wings, hoping that'd be enough to hold it down. Koppa Tengu didn't try to get her off, still shaking and fearful.

"I give up! I'm s-sorry, I don't want to give it, I'm sorry—"

"...I feel like a major jerkass now" Syphus mumbled. It was one thing to fight Shadows who were no more than instincts and feelings given form, it was an entirely different thing to assault a 'Persona' that seemed to be bordering on sentience. _I don't get it. What's going on?_ Making a mental note about asking Igor what was all this, he crouched in front of Koppa Tengu, staring into its mask.

"Give us the key. That's all we ask"

"F-Fine! Here it is! Le-Leave me alone!" as if that was all the 'Persona' needed to say, the key literally jumped out of its back, levitating in the air over it. Ananas hurried to take it, jumping back as if she feared a sudden attack now that she had the key, but Koppa Tengu didn't move, it was still almost completely immobile. Disturbed with how full of feelings it seemed to be, she showed the key to Syphus, who nodded. Shadow Alphys started walking back to where they had left Archangel, but Ananas and Syphus stayed behind _. I don't like this_ he thought, approaching Koppa Tengu.

"Hey...will you be okay?"

"I gave you the k-k-key, leave me alone!"

No matter what they said, Koppa Tengu kept saying the exact same thing over and over. Seeing that the 'Persona' wouldn't stand up or try to do anything but whimper about the key, the team left, not without feeling uncomfortable about what had happened. _Okay, now I'm completely sure: I need to ask Igor about all this stuff._ Shadow Alphys wasn't of any help when Syphus asked if she knew about the 'Personas', all she did was stare blankly at him and say "Let's focus on what's important right now"

Archangel was still on the same room than before, hovering over one of the operating tables. When the team and Shadow Alphys entered, it turned its head around, its armor making noise. "We got it! We have the key!" Ananas proudly proclaimed, showing it. Archangel froze, stiffened.

"Impossible..." it said, its voice deforming. Unbeknown to the team, a large crack formed on its back, sludge started to seep through it.

"We did it, so give us your key!"

"No. I won't"

"What?! That's unfair!"

"We did what you wanted. Do your part of the deal" Syphus said, crossing his arms. He wasn't going to tolerate any more fetch quests, now that they were so close to gathering the last key they needed, he was willing to force Archangel to give the key one way or another.

Archangel really didn't like Syphus' tone. Smoke emanated behind it in noticeable amount, making Ananas get her guard up. "I'm not going to let you reach her. You'll hurt her. I won't let you hurt Alphys any longer!"

"W-What? We didn't—" Ananas tried to defend herself, but Archangel wasn't listening. Shadow Alphys didn't reply to the accusations, closing her eyes and enduring it.

"I know what you're planning!" Archangel pointed its sword towards the group "I will stop you no matter what! Alphys shall stay safe!" suddenly, its back burst with a noise like metal scraping against metal, Archangel getting obliterated to bits by the large Shadow it had inside. _Oh, crap!_

"Everyone back off!" Syphus shouted while the large blob of ink-like substance settled, starting to form a rather large shape. Shadow Alphys and Ananas stepped back, eyeing with fear and caution the Shadow towering over them, almost reaching the ceiling of the laboratory. Ink gave the way to metal, blocky shapes stacking together, a very large and sturdy sword held by a fist so big it could crush anyone's head without effort, the sword was dripping more of that horrid sludge that formed Shadows. The bright colors of the Shadow would have been striking and appealing if it wasn't for the fact the Shadow was going to try to kill them all.

Ananas's pupils widened in shock, seeing the Shadow rising to its feet. "What's that? A robot...?" Syphus slowly nodded, stammering a yes.

"...although I think the right term is 'mecha'" he added.

 ** _Steel Machine_**

 ** _Resistant to everything, yet weak in health._**

Shadow Alphys' analysis wasn't good news at all. No weaknesses and strong to all magic and physical attacks? "Guess we'll have to attack constantly" Syphus said, summoning Shiki-Ouji from within him. The Steel Machine was prepared for that, though. It swung its sword. Syphus defended the team with Shiki-Ouji's arms, expecting the sword to crash against them, but it didn't. Instead it swung to the floor, leaving a trail of ink on the floor, smaller Shadows coming out of it. Four Mayas, with completely different masks to the ones the team had seen so far, came to life, raising their arms.

"Those are Cowardly Mayas. They're not going to be a problem for you"

"Annie, we're relying on you for this!" Syphus stepped forward with his halberd while Shiki-Ouji grappled with the Steel Machine, holding its arms to stop it from doing any attacks and unfortunately stopping himself from doing any attacks with his Persona. The halberd was the only way he had now to attack.

"Got it!" Ananas shouted, Hippolyta readying its axe and firing a ball of fire at one of the Mayas. It was defeated immediately, much to her delight "I found a weakness!"

"Keep it going!" Syphus replied, using his halberd to parry another Maya's arms. Noting that the girl was the biggest threat, the Mayas focused much of their magic on her, trying to hurt her with ice spells. Several of them hit Hippolyta, but Ananas endured on, trying not let it distract her even if it hurt. The girl didn't use her gun, exclusively using her Persona. She had a very limited amount of bullets, she didn't want to use them unless it was absolutely necessary. While Syphus was thrown to the ground, hit by one of the Cowardly Mayas, Ananas continued her fire magic, quickly defeating the few enemies. Once that was done, Syphus stood up, taking out one of the hospital food packages. "Ugh..."

"That was easy!"

"Easy for you" he had been busy trying to keep the Steel Machine at bay. It had been mercilessly punching Shiki-Ouji's side, the paper golem tried to hold the mecha's fist, but it managed to get out of the Persona's grasp, slashing with the sword towards it. Shiki-Ouji swung its thick arms, hitting the Machine like a bludgeon. The Machine fell to the ground, overwhelmed. "This is our chance!"

"I'm right here!" Ananas and Syphus ran forward, taking advantage of the moment of weakness, and hit the Steel Machine with everything they had, holding it down with their Personas while they stomped and hit it with their weapons. The advantage lasted a few seconds before the Steel Machine whirred and rose violently, throwing the humans back. More Shadows formed in front of it. _The next wave!_

Two Brilliant Cyclops on their slabs faced them, immediately jumping in the air somehow, shining brightly, and slamming right in front of them, cracking the tiles. Ananas jumped back, holding onto her hat. "We don't have anything to crush those with!"

Shadow Alphys looked at the new Shadows from over her glasses, analyzing them. "It shouldn't be too difficult. Keep your distance away from them"

"It's too late for me!" one of the Cyclops was trying to spin on him, forcing him to keep blocking the Shadow's round slab with his halberd. Once again Ananas showed to be useful, her fire hitting the Shadows since Syphus was unable to fight. The Machine, having seen two more of its recently created minions had been defeated, again swatted Shiki-Ouji aside, but this time it plunged the sword into the ground and left it there. The sword started to grow like a water balloon before bursting, something large and heavy coming out of it. "That has to be the last one, it must be!"

Ananas put her gun away, judging it'd be useless even if she wanted to shoot. The last Shadow to fight wasn't the kind that seemed vulnerable to guns, after all.

It was an armored tank, rumbling and moving slowly towards them, its cannon swiveling and aiming at them. Shadow Alphys made sure to stay as far away as possible from the danger. "That one is dangerous! No weak points and no resistances! Get rid of it before it kills you!"

"Why? What does it do?" Ananas looked back between Shadow Alphys and the tank. The Arcane Turret started glowing, its cannon gaining a bright blue shine. Syphus gasped, recognizing that glow. That samurai Shadow in Frisk's SOUL had done that too right before...

"RUN!" he shouted to Annie. The girl looked like she was about to say something, but when the cannon of the Turret reached a blinding white color she bolted to a side. The Turret's attack was stronger than she had seen so far. A ball of ice was fired from the Turret, impacting against the wall. From the point the ball hit the wall it started to be covered by ice, creeping quickly until a disc several meters wide formed. Without warning, the ice shattered noisily, leaving many larges holes on a wall made of concrete and steel. Syphus could feel himself tensing at the sight of what the tank's magic had done to the wall. _That's no joke. We have to finish that thing immediately!_

Ananas stayed near the opposite wall, as far as possible from the tank, and focused on attacking with her Persona. Shadow Alphys hadn't lied, despite the tank's obvious defenses, it was still vulnerable to Hippolyta's axe. The Arcane Turret aimed at Hippolyta, quickly firing several rounds of Bufu spells to try to take her down. Given Hippolyta's small size, it was able to dodge the ice spells easily, spinning through the air and attempting to cut the cannon of the tank off. "I need help over here!" Ananas shouted when the Turret aimed at her instead of the Persona.

"I'm busy!" Syphus shouted back, still grappling with the Machine with his Persona, that Shadow had approached them while they were distracted by the Turret. He hit the Machine's legs with the blade of the halberd, leaving no more than gashes on the paint. The Machine moved its arm, moving to punch Syphus on the face "Ack!" he reflexively gasped, barely managing to move Shiki-Ouji, it grabbing the Machine's fist when it was mere inches of breaking Syphus' face. Shiki-Ouji forcibly moved the Machine's hand away, twisting and making the metal screech.

Not having more option than to deal with the Turret by herself, Ananas gathered her courage and faced the tank. "You won't get me, weirdo!" she yelled, making Hippolyta fire a torrent of fire at the top of the tank, right where the Shadow's mask was. The Turret made no noise, it simply accelerated to get away from the fire while keeping its cannon aimed at Ananas. More volleys of ice crossed the air, hitting around Ananas, the girl throwing herself to the ground to dodge them. Seeing its chance, the tank roamed towards her, trying to run her over, she had to roll over to dodge it. For a moment she didn't know where was what, slightly dizzy, until a Bufu hit her right on the back, throwing her forward and on the floor, shivering. "Ah...s-s-so cold..." she muttered, standing up with tears in her eyes from the pain. Seeing the need to keep herself from being hit again, Ananas made Hippolyta stand right in front of her, using fire to defend against more of the Turret's ice attacks. "I really need help!" she had barely said when a bolt of lightning fell from the ceiling on the Turret, stopping it momentarily from attacking. Ananas turned her head around, Shadow Alphys had approached enough to help.

Shadow Alphys extended a hand, another bolt striking the Turret. "Don't stop, keep going!"

"Alphys?!"

"Just do it!" she yelped, having missed once with her spell. The Turret, not liking being attacked by two people at once, whirred noisily and sped towards Shadow Alphys, forcing her to retreat to the hallway. Ananas grit her teeth with frustration, drying the tears off her eyes.

"Leave her alone!" she screamed, a burst of energy reinvigorating her. She could feel her attack increasing, her Persona gaining strength, using it to bury the axe deep into the tank's armor. The Turret was yanked away from the hallway, taken to the other side of the room and mercilessly battered by Hippolyta's axe, many deep gashes left on the tank. Genuine smoke poured from underneath the Shadow's mask, the top of the Turret tilting to a side as if it felt dejected by all the damage it had received. Ananas, not realizing that with each physical attack she had been slumping more and more, her energy drained by her Persona, had to stop her onslaught to take a breath, not understanding why she felt so tired. Hippolyta stopped in the air, floating nearby. The few seconds of rest were enough for the Turret to take aim at the Persona. The ice hit Hippolyta, making it vanish and Ananas cry in pain. As if that was exactly what the Turret was waiting for, its cannon swiveled to aim at Ananas, two balls of ice crossing the air in quick succession.

One hit her on her belly, making her double over, the other one hit her right on her face almost immediately. Ananas was thrown back by the force of both impacts, her hat falling on the floor and Hippolyta vanishing momentarily, the Turret advanced immediately, its top twitching. The cannon aimed resolutely at Ananas' heart. Ananas, panicked, got Hippolyta to appear again, trying to focus on using the Persona's fire skill, but nothing happened. She was mentally exhausted; she didn't have the strength to not even boost her attack and finish the tank. "Why isn't it working?" she mumbled, holding her head, it was pulsing painfully. Boosting her attack earlier had consumed the little that remained of her spirit power.

"Annie, get away!" Syphus shouted right when Shiki-Ouji jumped on the Turret, its hand pressing hard against the cannon. Ananas could only stare, not having expected Syphus to stop fighting the Machine. That other Shadow, free from Shiki-Ouji's fighting, started coming near Syphus, its steps sounding heavily on the tiles of the floor. "Go!"

The Turret almost jumped in shock, revving up and slamming against the wall in an effort to get Shiki-Ouji off it, Syphus winced with every slam, keeping his eyes on the Machine and keeping his distance. Not wanting to leave Syphus undefended, Ananas tried to attack, but there still was no magic, leaving her with no other options than using her gun or doing what Syphus said. There was no more time to think about it once the Turret started glowing, charging up to boost its magic power. Ananas ran towards the hall, where Shadow Ananas was waiting. Syphus retreated as well, leaving his Persona clutching the Turret's cannon and the Machine approaching towards them.

For a moment the only thing the three of them saw was a blinding flash and the boom of an explosion, forcing the three of them to cover their ears and close their eyes, cold wind blasted them without hurting. Syphus felt a very strange sensation, something had hit his Persona but he felt no pain at all. Once it was safe for them to look inside the room, they saw the result of what had happened.

The walls and floor were cracked and covered with a thin layer of frost, glittering in the blinking fluorescent lights. They barely managed to see the fading red particles from when the Arcane Turret was obliterated by its own attack. Shiki-Ouji was standing still, unaffected by the icy explosion from the charged attack, and the Steel Machine...

...the Machine was on its death throes. Not only it had received an ice blast from very close, Syphus' constant attacking had managed to do a number on it before the Turret exploded. The Machine was staggering, leaning back and seemingly about to fall down. "It's almost done" Shadow Alphys informed "I'd say a strong enough blow would be enough to destroy it"

Syphus glanced at Ananas. "Do you want to do the honor?"

"I don't feel strong enough..." Ananas said weakly. Syphus took out another of the hospital meals, giving it to her. "This is going to help?"

"It'll make you strong enough to finish that thing"

It was just like Syphus said. The hospital food reinvigorated her in no time, enabling her to summon Hippolyta and ready the axe. The pulsing headache was still there, but at least she felt strong enough to deliver the final blow. Ananas pointed at the Machine and shouted:

"Finish it, Hippolyta!"

Hippolyta crossed the air, spinning with the axe forward. The noise of metal being torn to pieces in one swift move made Syphus cover his ears, involuntarily closing his eyes. When he opened them, one moment later, the Machine was gone. Ananas was leaning against the wall, holding her head with one hand. Shadow Alphys had approached her and was murmuring to the human girl, very few words reaching Syphus' ears.

"...exhaustion...inexperienced..."

Syphus rummaged in the stuff he had gathered during the trip through Alphys' SOUL, giving it to Ananas. It was a strangely shaped bud-like object, small enough to eat. "Eat this. It'll help you" not having enough energy to protest, Ananas simply nodded and ate the bud, almost immediately feeling the headache vanish. "Wow...what was that?"

"It's a soul...soul something. I don't remember what it's called" Syphus took one for himself too "Using a Persona's magic skills will tire your soul, and using a Persona's physical moves will use your, uh, health. Think of it like this: using your Persona at all will need something from you. Got it?"

"...I think I understand" Ananas walked into the room to recover her cowboy hat. Syphus followed her to pick up the key that was where the Steel Machine used to be. They did it, they had gathered the three keys. Once he returned to Shadow Alphys, she took out her key, giving it to him.

"I knew you two would do it"

"Yeah..." Syphus muttered coldly and started walking ahead. Ananas was about to follow him, but before that she approached Shadow Alphys. Ananas played with her braid, unsure of what to say. It took her a moment to ask what she had in mind.

"...you tried to help me. You're the...the hidden side of this Alphys person but you helped me. Why?" she asked. Shadow Alphys didn't reply, so she continued "I thought you'd try to kill us, but you tried to help me. Really, why?"

"Because you two are the help I need to reach the Alphys you know" Shadow Alphys replied coldly before following Syphus. Ananas stared at her back, not understanding a thing. Her Shadow Self had tried to kill Syphus and Monster Kid, by all logic Shadow Alphys should do the same.

...maybe Shadow Alphys was biding her time. Instead of attacking right when she met them, surely Shadow Alphys was waiting for the right chance. It had to involve reaching the real Alphys. Ananas tried to focus, she couldn't remember how exactly she had met her own Shadow Self. No, wait, she did remember something.

Walking to Undyne's house and getting near it. She never saw her own Shadow Self directly. All she remembered was getting near Undyne's house, and then her own voice was whispering to her some truths she'd have preferred not to hear. When Syphus and Monster Kid had arrived it felt like she was watching from afar, not like she was talking to them. If Shadow Alphys reached the real Alphys...

"Annie, get over here"

Ananas gasped, not having realized she had started walking. Syphus and Shadow Alphys were in front of the steel door, the keys already inserted in place. The doors slowly opened, stale air emanating from it. Unlike the rest of Alphys' SOUL, the tunnel beyond the doors looked musty and sinister. Syphus pointed forward with the halberd. "Annie, you go first"

"What? Why me?"

"Because Alphys' Shadow will go in the middle and I'll go last" he looked threateningly at Shadow Alphys, who didn't pay attention to him "I'm better prepared than you to deal with her if she tries anything funny" He wasn't wrong about that, with his many Personas he should be able to watch out for any attacks. Ananas nodded, accepting the reasoning, and got on the front of the group, keeping her distance from Shadow Alphys. "Alright. Here we go. Alphys should be just ahead"

"What are we going to do once we see her?"

"I don't know yet. Guess we'll see where this takes us" Going without a plan seemed like a very bad idea, but it wasn't like they had plethora of other options. Grimly, the three of them entered towards the depths of Alphys' SOUL.


	22. Priestess Arcana

_"The Priestess arcana is the arcana of wisdom and passive potential. The reversed Priestess is likely to involve emotional distortions - and it's often accompanied by an inability to free yourself from it"_

 _"That's complicated! How do you know so much about the meaning of this stuff?"_

 _"My master taught me. It's what I need to know to do this job"_

 _"Then you must know...do you think we have Shadows in our SOULs?"_

 _"Why do you ask?"_

 _"I was just thinking about that, what if we have Shadow Selves too?"_

 _"It'd make sense if we do. The other day I was- Master?"_

 _"Us residents of the collective unconscious don't tend to have Shadows. A Persona can be used only by those who have control over their desires and egos. It'd require a lot of turmoil for someone like you or your horned friend here to manifest a Shadow Self"_

 _"So it's not impossible...what do you think, ASRIEL?"_

 _"Wait, I can use a Persona?"_

 _"You should try that later, but why were you asking about Shadows?"_

 _"I was just...wondering..."_

 _"Is there something wrong?"_

 _"No. Nothing"_

* * *

The hallway got darker and darker the more they walked, the fluorescent lights blinking and looking on the verge of turning off at any moment. Their steps echoed while they walked on the dirty floor, the dim lighting showing mold between the tiles. Compared to the rest of Alphys' SOUL, it almost seemed like this was a completely different place. Nobody was saying anything; everyone was on edge about what could happen. There wasn't any sign of the real Alphys yet, the hall seemed endless...

...until suddenly it ended in front of another pair of steel doors. Ananas stopped, knocking on them. Nothing happened, so she turned around, looking lost. Wordlessly, Syphus approached and forced his eyesight through the darkness, taking a look at the doors while Ananas watched over Shadow Alphys. The doors were tightly closed, smooth and without any scratches. There weren't any handles or locks. _There must be a way to open this..._ to the side of the doors there was a tiny panel with only one button, which he pressed. The doors opened immediately, a bright light coming from inside.

It was an elevator. It didn't look abnormal or unusual, it just had one single button on the panel attached to the back of the elevator. Syphus examined the inside of the cabin, not finding anything to be wary of – besides the elevator itself. "Alright, go in" he said to the other two. The three of them stood inside the elevator, waiting for it to finish descending to the place it was leading to.

"Syphus, where's this elevator going?" Ananas asked.

"I don't know. Alphys' laboratory isn't supposed to have something that leads further down"

Shadow Alphys turned her head around almost like an owl. "How do you know that?" Syphus scratched behind an ear, trying to think quick.

"I mean, the laboratory is already underground, if it goes any deeper it'd plunge into lava. Alphys wouldn't survive that, I think. Would she?" the half-assed excuse didn't convince Shadow Alphys, but she didn't press on. The elevator ride continued in silence until it stopped. "We're going to continue just like we agreed before"

"I'll be going first" once the doors opened, Ananas stepped outside, immediately tripping on many objects on the floor and crashing down. "Aaah!"

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine! I just tripped on something here..." Ananas took what she had stepped on. It was a can of soda "It's junk. Hey...this place is full of junk!"

She wasn't wrong. The floor was littered with a thick layer of cans, small cardboard boxes and detritus like screws, cables and bolts. It all made it a tad difficult to walk at first, but after a moment they all managed to get their footing. The ceiling had many pipes of varied sizes, all of them gurgling with liquids within. The biggest pipes were leaking something colorless and of intense smell. "Be careful. That's petroleum ether. It's not corrosive, but if you absorb too much of it through your skin you won't like what'll happen" Shadow Alphys warned. The three didn't have to walk for long before they saw someone not too far away.

"Alphys?"

"O-oh?" effectively, it was Alphys. The royal scientist was looking around, confused. "W-Who are you? And...you too, w-who are you? And... Why's there a—is that a clone of me?"

"That's the real Alphys?" Ananas asked to Syphus, who nodded.

"Wait...I know you! You're that human girl w-who was at Waterfall the other day!"

"...what? How did you know-?" Ananas got distracted for a moment too long.

Besides, there were two things Syphus forgot. One, Shadow Alphys could see the weaknesses and strengths of anyone they encountered, and that included them, and second:

Ananas was weak to electricity.

The Mazio from Shadow Alphys hit without warning. One moment Ananas was asking for Alphys recognized her, the next moment several bolts of lightning fell from the ceiling, hitting both Syphus and Ananas. Ananas was thrown onto her back, and Syphus instinctually hurried to help her, realizing too late that wasn't the right thing to do right now. Shadow Alphys hurried forward and got to the real Alphys' side, too late for Syphus to stop her. The real Alphys tried to get away, but Shadow Alphys grabbed her from her shoulders, stopping her "You're not going anywhere. We need to talk"

"T-Talk? Who are you? W-Why do you look like me?!"

"I'm you. I'm the part of you you're refusing to listen" Shadow Alphys aggressively grabbed Alphys' shoulders and managed to make her kneel down, keeping her rooted in the same place. Syphus tried to come closer, but Shadow Alphys looked at him and snarled "Don't come closer!"

"Let her go!" Syphus pleaded, but she didn't listen.

"She has to listen to me already!" Shadow Alphys's claws got tighter. Alphys stammered, sweating heavily, her hidden self inching her face closer with furious expression.

"This has to end already. You have done a lot of things you _know_ you should regret. Why are you digging the hole deeper and deeper every single day"?

Alphys tried to avert her eyes. "I'm not doing that—"

"You _know_ you have doing it! You have lost count of how many things you have been hiding from everyone" Shadow Alphys' look softened just a smidgen "Undyne...Asgore...Mettaton...you have lied to everyone and you know it"

Alphys couldn't deny that. She had been precisely thinking that right before the incident that made her enter her own SOUL, but being confronted like that by someone with her own face...the words simply didn't come out. Her silence seemed to infuriate Shadow Alphys, who shook her. When Ananas and Syphus tried to approach to get her away from Alphys, the Shadow Self extended a claw, somehow managing to hold Alphys down with only one hand. Her fingers crackled with electricity. _Damn it, most of the Personas I have are weak to electricity!_ "Why aren't you saying anything?!" she shouted at Alphys, which didn't encourage her to talk. For a moment Shadow Alphys stared at her, breathing harder and more anxious each time, until she finally dropped her on the floor. While Shadow Alphys sighed, taking off her glasses and rubbing her closed eyes, and Alphys whimpered, still confused and at a loss of words.

"This is our chance" Ananas whispered to Syphus.

Knowing that she was right, Syphus started approaching, intending to take Shadow Alphys away, but once he got close enough something made him stop. Maybe it had been an order from the witch he belonged to. Maybe it was Shadow Alphys' truly dejected face, or how Alphys seemed to be on the verge of sobbing her eyes out. It seemed like such a personal moment for Alphys for a moment he wasn't sure what to do. Sure, it was almost certain this'd lead to a fight with Shadow Alphys, but...

...but Alphys really needed to hear what her other self needed to say. Had this been how Frisk and Ananas had faced their Shadow Selves, even if it was an internal struggle instead of seeing their Shadow Selves face to face? Both of them had come out of their SOULs with renewed understanding of their own feelings, thoughts and fears.

Could it be facing their Shadow Selves wasn't as damaging for the people as he had supposed it'd be? They still needed to be rescued, but...perhaps facing their other self could be a turning point in their lives?

The doubts Syphus had made him lose his chance to get Shadow Alphys away. She didn't try to grab Alphys again, but she continued talking, her voice filled with scorn. "I can't believe I have been reduced to this. I can't believe all that's left of the person I was is...

...is _you_ "

Alphys looked like she had just been slapped. _Okay, maybe we should intervene!_ "Stop that! Alphys didn't do anything wrong, she-" Syphus said without thinking. Shadow Alphys had to been about to reply what surely was going to be a disrespectful comment about her other self, but the real Alphys mumbled something. "Uh...what did you say?"

"...I said she's right"

"That's not true! I don't know you, but—" Ananas tried to defend her too, but Alphys cowered until she almost was a ball.

"I have been lying to everyone...i-it's my fault. Everyone will know I'm a liar – I'll be h-hated, I'll be r-rejected, Undyne will leave me – it's over for me..." nobody said anything. Syphus had closed his eyes and looked away, very unsure of what to do. Alphys was deep into her self-loathing, and having her inner self shout at her about that had worsened it. He really hoped that this meant she was rock bottom and that the only possibility now was to get better. Alphys continued her reverie, uninterrupted "...I deserve it, for being such a c-coward...I don't even know why I...I started some of t-these lies. At the time...it seemed like the r-right thing to do, but now...

...m-maybe I should just go away while I still h-have the chance"

"What am I supposed to say? Syphus, I don't know what to say" Ananas whispered to Syphus, looking at Alphys with pity. The tense silence continued for a minute or so before someone finally broke it with something Syphus wished he had thought:

"And what are you going to do about it?" Shadow Alphys said, loud and clear. Alphys was so surprised to hear that with her own voice that she raised her head.

"E-Eh?"

"What are you going to do about it?"

Alphys looked down. "There's nothing to be done...it's too late t–t-t-t-to fix it. Leave m-me alone"

"No" Shadow Alphys started approaching, thick black vapor flowing from her scales "I won't. Alphys, we're both the same person. You know very well that you want to fix it. _There's no other option for you_. What do you have to say to that?"

"...I...?"

"You _coward_ " Shadow Alphys spat, grabbing her by the back of her lab coat "At this point you're only hurting yourself, and you're hurting everyone around you, and if you don't see it...

...then I'll have to show you myself" the Shadow Self's claws started sinking into Alphys, making her panic. The intense aura emanating from Shadow Alphys intensified, enveloping the real one. Shadow Alphys turned her head towards the team. "Thank you for your help, but there's one thing more you need to do: Don't let me kill you, because I won't hold back!"

That was all the warning they had. The fusion happened almost immediately, leaving only Alphys standing there. Her eyes were wide open behind her glasses, looking around in panic, the lights hanging from the ceiling dimming until they could barely see Alphys' silhouette. Her now bright golden eyes were still very visible, though. "Are you okay?" Ananas inquired, unsure if she should approach.

Alphys grabbed her head, pained, shaking it as if trying to get something out of it. "Don't look at me! S-Stay away...all I do is l-l-lie and d-deceive!"

"She's losing control! Get ready!" Syphus said to Annie, preparing himself for the unavoidable fight. Alphys continued screaming at the top of her lungs, shaking more and more.

"I-I-I don't deserve anything I have! Everything I have is b-because I lie! Stay away, go away! You must forget about me!"

"We're _not_ leaving. Don't try to convince us to go away"

The cans and junk around Alphys started moving like something was rippling underneath it, as if it was water, until it rose and completely covered Alphys like a blanket. _Here it comes_! Just a few seconds later the debris subsided, revealing Shadow Alphys' form.

It looked completely identical to how she was before, despite the dim lighting they could see that. "Well that's underwhelming..." Shadow Alphys, not having heard that, seethed in her own despair, crackling with electricity.

"I-I warned you...I'm g-going to destroy you! Th-That's all I do!" _Okay, here we go!_ The analysis didn't show anything new, it seemed analyzing the strongest Shadows pretty much never gave any useful results.

 **Shadow Alphys, Priestess Arcana**

The team decided to make the first move. As a way to measure what she'd do, Syphus decided to keep his distance and attack with a Persona for now, summoning Ara Mitama for a quick tackle. The strange red drop that was the Persona flew through the air, hitting Shadow Alphys in the face. Her head was forcibly turned to a side, but she didn't seem hurt, not even slightly affected by an attack that should have been decent enough.

"She wasn't even fazed!" Ananas got Hippolyta ready, and since Syphus had done a physical attack, she went for magic. The ball of fire that was Ananas' magic hit Shadow Alphys square on, but that didn't seem to affect her either. "That didn't work either!"

 _She must have a weak point_... What was for sure was that electricity wasn't going to be it. Screaming in rage and despair, Shadow Alphys raised her arms, a magic attack unlike the ones they had seen so far happening. Shadow Alphys seemed to have much bigger control on her magic than Frisk and Ananas' Shadows, bolt after bolt of thunder falling, forcing them to run in separate ways. Running on the cans and junk around was rather difficult, especially in the dark. "Oof!" Ananas tripped with some random debris and fell down, chance Shadow Alphys used, thunders weaving together in a spiral that hit where Ananas was, with such strength that the trash around her flied in the air like hail.

"Annie! Are you okay?" Syphus shouted.

"...oooow...that one _hurt..."_

"Damn it!" at least she was still conscious, albeit weakened. Luckily for them, Syphus calling for Ananas made Shadow Alphys change her target, chance Ananas used to stand up and ready Hippolyta's axe, swinging it down on Shadow Alphys' head.

The blow that'd usually leave anything reeling had absolutely no effect on Shadow Alphys. Instead it sounded like the axe hit something metallic. "What?!"

 _This'd be much easier if something I had resisted electricity!_ Or at least if most of his actual Personas weren't weak to it. Unsure of what to do, he swung the halberd towards Shadow Alphys, forcing her to retreat even if she wasn't hit not even once. Hippolyta again tried fire, hitting Shadow Alphys on the back, but that didn't seem to help. "I warned you..." Shadow Alphys jumped, a strange clinking sound emanating from her, and grabbed onto Syphus' halberd, stopping it without effort "...you should have sta-stayed away when you had the ch-chance" she hissed before unleashing a strong electric current through the steel halberd.

It was an indescribable sensation, similar to what anyone would feel sticking a fork into an electric outlet. One moment Syphus was seeing Shadow Alphys from nearby, the next it felt like dozens of needles were directly touching his nerves. He lost his footing, falling on his knees and hands. "Stop that!" Ananas shouted, throwing junk at Shadow Alphys. Shadow Alphys started to advance towards Ananas, forcing her to run away. _Okay, first thing I'll do once I'm out of here is wrap the handle of this thing in rubber_ he thought, standing up with shaky legs and retreating to the side.

Keeping themselves with as much health as possible was the priority, but Shadow Alphys turned out to have excellent aim. If Syphus had been alone it'd have proven impossible for him to win, the only Persona he had for healing was weak to the electricity spells Shadow Alphys kept throwing around. Ananas, despite her own weakness, had managed to distract it for long enough for Syphus to heal them both each time. It turned into a constant cycle they all had a hard time getting out for.

It didn't help that no matter what Syphus did, Shadow Alphys wasn't affected by anything – and it didn't help that Syphus didn't have many attack options. All he had was physical attacks, fire, and electricity magic. None of that proved useful at all. "There must be something we can do. I refuse to lose just because of my lack of moves!" Syphus whined, healing Ananas again. They were now hiding in a dark corner of the room, whispering to each other while Shadow Alphys attacked the spots where she thought they may be hiding.

"But nothing's working!" Ananas had lost her hat somewhere, her clothes had a lot of burn holes "I don't get it, nothing is protecting her! Why does it sound like we're hitting armor or something?"

 _...yeah, that's weird_. Ananas wasn't wrong, that strange sound that resonated with each blow was unusual and didn't fit with how Alphys looked. "I have an idea. I'll go to the other side, be ready to hit my Persona with Agi"

"What? Why?"

"Just trust me!" Syphus didn't wait for a reply, instead running ahead and making as much noise as possible with the cans on the floor. Shadow Alphys turned around, immediately hitting the walls with Mazio, a barrage of electricity hitting the walls just an instant after Syphus passed nearby. Stopping across the room, Syphus stomped on the floor. "Now!" he yelled, summoning Shiki-Ouji and focusing on what the sound may be.

The impact of fire against Shiki-Ouji's body made absolutely no sound. _Perhaps we're just not seeing something?_ He didn't have much time to think about it before Shadow Alphys hit Shiki-Ouji, making him stumble back. "I'm right here!" Ananas got Shadow Alphys' attention, Hippolita trying to cut at its torso unsuccessfully, but at least it was keeping Shadow Alphys busy enough. "What was that for?"

"I think she's not invincible, it may be something we're just...not seeing. It's too dark in here"

"Then let's turn on the lights" Ananas pointed upwards, at the hanging lightbulbs, all of them currently turned off.

"I don't think there's a light switch anywhere" Syphus said, advancing with Shiki-Ouji and try to crush Shadow Alphys with its fists. Both Personas were keeping Shadow Alphys busy enough for the team to briefly talk.

"Then find a way to turn the lights on!" Ananas left, leaving Syphus to figure out by himself how exactly he was going to turn on the lightbulbs. Looking for a light switch was useless, there was no way things would be as simple as that. The lightbulbs were high in the air, hanging from feeble cords. Beams thick enough to stand on them crossed high in the air, the gurgling pipelines sticking to the ceiling. _There's no way to turn on the lights unless_... Maybe it would work! All they needed was some magic.

"Think you can resist for a minute or so?"

"I think I can!" Ananas was shaking after another electric shock. Hoping the girl would resist during the short while it'd take Syphus to test the idea, he retreated to a side, dispelling Shiki-Ouji and changing it for Orobas. The red bipedal horse roared while Syphus looked for a way to get it up to the beams. There was nothing. "Annie, I need a boost over here!" Syphus pleaded while Orobas ran towards Hippolyta. Thinking fast, Ananas made Hippolyta lower the axe, providing a platform for Orobas. As soon as the horse stepped on the axe, Hippolyta launched it upwards, high enough to grab onto one of the cords of the lightbulbs. _Here goes nothing_!

Electricity coursed through the cord, reaching the lightbulb and turning it on, casting a small cone of light towards Shadow Alphys, revealing the true form of their foe: a cluster of garbage. Packages of ramen, cables, miscellaneous pieces of junk, together it made the deformed shape of Shadow Alphys, looking like it was going to crumble down at any moment. She was _trash_.

IMAGE SHADOW ALPHYS

"What...is this why nothing affected her?" Ananas was looking at Shadow Alphys with pity. Shadow Alphys cowered under the light, shaking, some of the cans forming her rattling.

"Don't look at me! _STOP STARING AT ME!"_

Syphus ran ahead, the spike of his halberd on the front, plunging it with ease into Shadow Alphys' flank. Shadow Alphys howled in pain, although it should have made anyone listening to it regret, after so many failed attempts to deplete her health it was a welcome change. "It's working!" they didn't waste any time. Hippolyta started smashing Shadow Alphys with the axe while Syphus did the same with his halberd, pieces of Shadow Alphys flying out of her crumbling body. The onslaught lasted a few seconds before an expansive blast of garbage made both Ananas' Persona and Syphus to step back, Shadow Alphys screaming as loud as it could.

"Stop that already!" it wailed, the junk covering the floor starting to move. The junk rippled before it rose, forming a flexible pillar, moving back and forth. The pillar slammed onto the ground, aiming towards Syphus, who barely jumped out of the way before the garbage flattened everything that was there. As soon as that pillar merged with the ground again, two more appeared, the cycle repeating until there were several pillars, all trying to crush the team.

It all got so bad Syphus had to get rid of Orobas to summon Shiki-Ouji again to fight the pillars while Hippolyta faced Shadow Alphys in close quarters, to the point where the constant attempts to cleave their target got Ananas drained and tired. "I need some healing!"

"Eat food, I can't heal you right now!" Syphus grit his teeth, Shiki-Ouji grabbing onto a pillar and breaking it, throwing the pieces at Shadow Alphys' face. Shadow Alphys cowered meekly before sinking into the junk on the floor, effectively making herself invulnerable once again, until the lightbulb Syphus had turned on dimmed and turned off. The true appearance of their enemy would be concealed once more, Ananas' progress on depleting its health immediately stopping, and the pillars fell into nothing.

Shadow Alphys emerged from the garbage, glaring at the humans. "You...why won't you _leave me alone already_?!" With deceptive speed, Shadow Alphys bolted forward, towards Syphus, managing to hook her claws into his clothes "I have to push you all away!" she jabbed her fingers into his chest. A sensation of nausea and chills invaded Syphus as soon as Shadow Alphys removed her fingers. _It's poison!_

"It's invincible again!" Ananas barely managed to pull Shadow Alphys again before being zapped, but that was enough. Syphus fought back the intense feeling of sickness, looking upwards towards the lights. They had to keep the lights on for long enough to fight Shadow Ananas, but the analysis showed it still had a lot of health. _We need a way to keep the damage coming constantly, but how...?_ "Turn the lights on again!"

 _"_ I-I'll do it, but..." Syphus took a deep breath and tried to focus. He really hoped the poison wasn't going to last for long or he'd be in trouble. Feverishly, he looked around, trying to see anything that could help. There was nothing new anywhere, despite the garbage being moved around. "There has to be something...anything that can help...!" Even if he turned on the lights, Shadow Alphys would simply blend into the garbage again. They had to do something to stop that from happening.

"Syphus! The lights!"

"I'm thinking...!" in that moment, a drop of something fell on Syphus. He slowly touched the point where the drop had touched him, examining the colorless fluid. _What's this...?_ It took him a moment to recall what it was, immediately making him wipe his finger from that substance.

 _"Be careful. That's petroleum ether"_

The largest pipes on the ceiling were still leaking petroleum ether at a very slow rate. Syphus tried to distinguish them, trying to see through the darkness which pipes were the right ones, when a sudden ball of fire startled him. "I'm sorry!" Ananas said, having gotten too tired to continue with the physical attacks. Syphus didn't reply, staring slack-jawed at Hippolyta, then at the dripping pipes, then to the lights. His mind created a wild idea, reckless and definitely not the kind any sane person would consider a good option, but at this point he was growing desperate. _'Petroleum' means it's flammable, right?_ It was worth a try. Trying to keep the shivers under control, Syphus called at Ananas, summoning Shiki-Ouji.

"Keep going!" Syphus called to Ananas before he started climbing his Persona. It was tall enough for him to reach the beams near the ceiling, he just needed to get to the Persona's head. Ananas' befuddled staring made Shadow Alphys look behind it. It had no idea what was going on or why Syphus was climbing Shiki-Ouji, but it had to stop such antics. Shiki-Ouji was blasted by sparks, making Syphus cringe and stop his progress, hanging onto the paper golem to not fall down.

"Stop that!" Hippolyta's axe hit Shadow Alphys' head, forcing it to stop attacking Syphus' Persona. _Thanks, Annie_ he thought, standing on Shiki-Ouji's shoulder and grabbing its horns, managing to stand on them despite his ailment. The garbage-covered floor looked far away through his dazed eyes, he tried to not look down, instead forcing himself to propel onto the beam, grabbing onto it in a tight hug. _Damn it..._ he was still shivering. "Syphus? Syphus, are you okay?!"

"I'll be fine" he mumbled, Shiki-Ouji disappearing "I think I got poisoned"

"Poisoned?!"

"I should be okay" standing up on a thin beam while not being on the best conditions seemed very risky. For his own well-being he clung onto the beam like a sloth, Shiki-Ouji materializing right behind Ananas. Without bothering to even give a warning, the piece made Shiki-Ouji grab Ananas and lift her up, right where Syphus was clinging. Syphus got Ananas up with some effort while Shadow Alphys tried to hit Ananas with more electricity spells but missed due to the distance.

Once Ananas was standing on the beam Shadow Alphys could only stare upwards, unable to hit them with anything – it was dark enough up there that she wasn't sure where the team was. "Why are we up here? It's so high!" Ananas didn't seem to be having any problems standing up there, thankfully.

"We're going to get rid of all the garbage we can" Syphus weakly pointed at the pipes "We need to break the large pipes"

"I'll use Hippolyta's axe and—"

"No! We don't know what the other pipes have. The stuff in the ones we want to break is bad enough for us to get sprayed with something else"

Ananas' hand automatically went to the holster of her gun. Finally, her chance to shine. The gun only had five bullets, would that be enough? With a determined look in her eyes, she nodded. "I need some light" Syphus looked down at where Shadow Alphys was roaming, trying to see them.

"The moment I turn on a light, she'll attack" They needed the lights to be able to defeat Shadow Alphys, anyways. Doing it now was the only option "Will you be able to do it quickly?"

Ananas grinned, flipping up her hat with a flick. "'s goin' to be as easy as pie, pal" she said with a false accent, brandishing her gun. She was about to walk away on the beam when Syphus stopped her.

"Wait!" he took off his track jacket, passing it to her. Better to keep her safe from the chemical that was going to rain shortly. He'd be unprotected from it, but at least Ananas was going to be okay...kinda "Put this on you. I'm counting on you, Sheriff" Ananas took the jacket, putting it on her head and body like a cloak.

Shadow Alphys narrowed her eyes, trying to find where exactly her foes had gone. It was all too dark, she could see the hanging lightbulbs and the beams, and although she could hear them, she wasn't sure where to aim at. Suddenly, one of the lightbulbs turned on. Shadow Alphys immediately zapped the area near the light, scorching the pipelines above it. Another lightbulb turned on nearby, she could now see the pipes' outline. "W-Where are you?" Shadow Alphys stammered, annoyed. Third, fourth, fifth lightbulbs turned on, almost no place in the room was dark.

A silhouette jumped from one of the lightbulb cords to another. "G-Got you...?" she was about to use as many electricity spells as possible when a different noise startled her.

"Yes!" Ananas whispered to herself, fist pumping. One of the big pipes had been pierced, a clear liquid pouring out and onto the garbage on the floor. Without even looking if the petroleum ether had fallen on Shadow Alphys as well, Ananas crawled on the beam to the next part. She aimed her gun, biting on her tongue, and fired, the bullet hitting another pipe. Petroleum ether splashed on the jacket Syphus had lent her while she tried to go to the next target. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I think the poison is going away" Syphus was lying down, his Persona Orobas applying electricity on the last lightbulb. The whole room was now illuminated, Shadow Alphys was still trying to hit Orobas and missing. Now that his part of the plan was done, Syphus dispelled his Persona, sighing with relief and trying to ignore the petroleum ether sprinkling him. A third gunshot and the wet sound of liquids pouring out let him know Ananas was still doing well.

"What's...what are y-you doing?!" Shadow Alphys had stopped her spells, instead once again making pillars of garbage, trying to use them to plug the holes on the pipes.

Ananas fired her fourth bullet, piercing the last pipe Syphus had told her. "Done!" she said, pretending to blow smoke off the cannon of her gun "Now what?" Syphus waited for Shadow Alphys to plug that fourth pipe. Most of the garbage below, as well as Shadow Alphys, had been soaked with petroleum ether. If he remembered right his meager knowledge of chemistry, liquids like petroleum ether burned very hot and ran out fast, it'd be a fire lasting for a short time yet it'd destroy the garbage and – with some luck – damage Shadow Alphys enough to defeat her. Syphus nodded at Ananas.

"Fire"

" _Fire_!"

Hippolyta's fire blast hit one of the pillars of garbage plugging a pipe, lighting it up on fire. Shadow Alphys, standing near the base of the pillar, jumped back, pieces of junk falling off her shape. "N-No! S-Stop!" she pleaded when another of the pillars was set on fire "I-I surrender! Stop this!" It couldn't be stopped. The magic fire spread at startling speed, molten steel and plastic starting to pile up on the floor. Up on the heating beams, Ananas hissed, enduring the intense heat without much complaint, while Syphus felt nothing, having changed to Shiki-Ouji again.

"I-I-I-I surrender! P-Please, stop it!" Shadow Alphys wasn't set on fire, but the heat was enough to hurt her. All around her the garbage melted and burned away, all lasting for a minute more before the fire extinguished. All that was left of the junk was a thick layer of solidified goop, with Shadow Alphys lying on it. "...I...g-give up..."

The petroleum ether had stopped flowing, the holes on the pipes sealed by the burning materials. Syphus and Ananas descended by climbing down Shiki-Ouji, landing on the solidified remains of the garbage. Slowly, the two walked towards Shadow Alphys, a bit wary. "...you win...Th-Thank...you..." she said. Her shape trembled for a moment before some of the trash fell away, showing underneath it yellow scales and white fabric. _She's here!_

"Got you!" Syphus and Ananas grabbed the fabric, pulling from it. It was like trying to pull away gum from hair, but soon they managed to make progress. As soon as her head appeared, Alphys gasped, she was completely unharmed. Alphys grabbed Syphus and Ananas' sleeves, holding onto them so tight her claws teared into their clothes.

It took a couple minutes but they managed to get Alphys out of her Shadow's form, the three of them falling onto the solidified slop. For a moment no one said anything, just resting from everything that had happened. A while later, Ananas took off the jacket Syphus lent her, passing it to him. "Thanks..." she said. The jacket was mostly covered in petroleum ether, had many burn holes, and overall was tattered and ruined. Syphus just let it fall aside.

"...uh...I can't believe you two saw...such embarrassing behavior from me..." Alphys stammered, looking at the shape of Shadow Alphys still standing there, immobile. Ananas approached, putting a hand on Alphys' shoulder.

"Don't worry! Mine wasn't much better"

"You...you saw your ugly other side too?"

"Kinda" the girl extended her hand "I'm Sheriff Ananas. Nice to meet you, Alphys"

"Uh...same?" Alphys awkwardly shook Ananas' hand, then looked at Syphus with doubt. "I feel like I know you...but that's impossible, I have never seen you before"

"It's complicated to explain, but I'll try later. Right now what matters is that" Syphus gestured at Shadow Alphys' frame. Alphys closed her eyes, sighing.

"Oh. Her. Everything she s-said, uh...i-it isn't like she said, I'm not, uh..."

"Don't worry, we understand" shaming Alphys would be a rather low thing to do, it wasn't any of their concern. Still, it'd be nice if Alphys faced the chains she had inflicted on herself and managed to obtain a Persona "You should do something about that, though"

"What am I s-supposed to do?"

"Defeat it. You'll have to deal the finishing blow"

"The what?!" Alphys shook her head "I-I'm not killing anything!"

"You're not going to kill it. You'll defeat the parts of you that represent what you have to overcome. That's all you have to do"

"I-It isn't as easy as you make it sound! I-I don't know – that's not – I don't know if I can!"

"You can do it. Come on, we believe in you!" Ananas tried to encourage, but she sounded a bit too forceful. Alphys didn't seem encouraged at all. The time for discussion ended immediately, Shadow Alphys' remains started moving forward. The ruined hands extended forward, sharp claws at the ready to grab Alphys. Alphys gasped, stepping back and falling on her rear.

"It-It's moving!"

"Alphys, now's your chance! Do it!"

"B-B-But I don't know – I don't understand anything!"

"That's another side of yourself. You're the only one who can tame it and start building up something good out of it. You have to do it" Syphus tried to explain in a few words, Shadow Alphys getting closer and closer.

"That's me? I know i-it looked like me, but-"

"You have to overcome that thing! Do it!" Ananas took out her gun, not liking how this was turning out to be.

"Wait, this is going too f-fast! I'm not—that can't be me! I'm not a liar, I—"

"It's getting closer!" Syphus warned.

"I-I may have lied a bit, but I'm not—you have to believe me!" she yelled. Shadow Alphys grabbed Alphys again, lifting her. The Shadow Self wasn't in any condition to attack anymore, but these simple movements were enough to spook Alphys. "H-Help me!"

"Do it! Come on, do it already!"

"I...I..."

"Alphys, _now_!"

 **"I can't do it!"**

Alphys' shriek startled Ananas, who raised her gun with a whimper and fired her last bullet at Shadow Alphys. The bullet cleanly pierced through the trash. Shadow Alphys froze, immobile for a few tense seconds, until slowly it crumbled away, turning into a pile of trash on the solid melted garbage slop, the Shadow Self itself leaving those objects. Alphys fell to the floor, struggling to keep herself together, while Syphus sighed and Ananas hurried to get to Alphys' side. "Are you okay?"

"I...I'm fine..." Alphys managed to say "I just want to go home...please take me home..."

"We will" Syphus said dryly, disappointed. He had thought Alphys would be able to face her own obstacles and gain a Persona, but her fears had been too much for her to handle in such short notice. Syphus picked up cans and junk that once formed Shadow Alphys while Ananas calmed Alphys down.

"What're we going to do once we're back?" Ananas asked to Syphus when he approached. The piece shrugged, a bit absent-mindedly.

"We'll have to get out of the hospital. I don't know how much time will have passed, but Undyne may be nearby. Stay hidden under the bed until it's safe to go"

Alphys frowned "The hospital...?"

"You'll understand once you wake up" Syphus looked at the neck of Alphys' clothes, finding the firefly brooch there. Once he was sure everyone was ready and that they weren't leaving anything behind, Syphus pressed the brooch. _It'd be nice to have a third team member at some point..._

-ooooo-

When Syphus felt his consciousness returning, the first thing he heard was the scraping of the door against the floor, pushing against the bed where Alphys was lying on. "NGAAAAH!" he heard, completely waking him up. Undyne! She was going to enter the room! Syphus pretty much teared the brooch out of Alphys' clothes, attaching it to his pants.

He had barely activated it when something hit the door, moving the door further away enough for someone to enter. Undyne peeked inside, her eye widening when she saw the bed blocking the door. "What the HELL?!" she murmured, barely managing to keep her voice down.

"Uh...hey there..." Syphus meekly said, moving the bed to unblock the door and hoping Ananas would stay underneath and uncaught. Undyne stomped inside the room, looking around.

"What happened here? Why was the bed against the door? _Why_ are _you_ here? _Why are there so many lab coats on the floor_?!" she was shouting when the receptionist entered too. Unlike Undyne, the receptionist paid no attention to Syphus, instead going towards Alphys on the bed, who was starting to wake up. The receptionist turned her head around.

"The patient is waking up!"

That was enough for Undyne to pretty much ignore Syphus' presence, rushing to Alphys' side. "Are you serious?!" she was in disbelief. A monster who had fallen down just woke up! That was very uncommon! When she saw that it was true, she wasn't sure what to say, but it felt like a huge weight had been taken off her shoulders.

The receptionist went to the side of the room where the bed had originally been. "Here, bring the bed over here. She should stay with us tonight, just in case"

"Got it!" Undyne grabbed the planks underneath the bed, barely missing Ananas hiding, and lifted the bed up. Having her hideout taken away, Ananas grabbed her cloak and threw it over herself. Luckily for her, lifting the bed had all of Undyne's attention and the receptionist couldn't see her yet, so Syphus opened the door a bit more and wordlessly gestured Ananas to crawl away. Ananas hurried to escape, standing up once she got to the hallway, and Syphus, without even daring to get Undyne's attention, exited the room shortly after, clutching his halberd.

"We did it. We really did it. Let's go away now"

"Is Alphys going to be okay?" Ananas inquired.

"I think so. Come on, let's go home before Undyne comes out to snap my neck for the mess we left in there" he pushed Ananas forward a bit, the two of them quickly running through the halls until they left the hospital.

-ooooo-

The trek all the way to the Hidden Village was done mostly in silence, Ananas didn't want to talk while there were so many monsters nearby. Only once they existed the MTT Resort and started crossing the bridge over lava that led to Waterfall Ananas said something. "Sorry about your jacket" she said, looking at the ruined jacket with some pity. Syphus was carrying it as if it was the grossest thing he had ever touched.

With a sigh, he let the jacket flutter down towards the lava. "It's ruined. Wearing that thing ever again would be dangerous"

"Are you going to be okay without it?"

"I'll just have to use the white shirt I have right now until I get more clothes. It's no big deal"

"I think Byssa is almost done with your robe"

"...I don't think I could run wearing a robe" the conversation died until they descended into the crevice to walk into the village. Ananas rubbed a sore spot on her arm, a bit forlorn.

"Is Alphys going to be okay?"

"Yeah, most likely"

"That copy of her with the yellow eyes...it was creepy how she fought with Alphys. But Syphus, uh...can I ask you something?" Syphus hummed a 'hm?', so Ananas continued: "Are you a copy too?"

That made Syphus slow down a bit. He reflexively was about to stick his free hand into the pocket of his jacket, only finding air when he realized he wasn't wearing one anymore. "Why do you ask?"

"Your eyes...they're yellow like Alphys' copy. Are you one too?"

Syphus thought for a moment. In his opinion it was possible he was his master's Shadow Self, as weird as that could be, but he wasn't completely sure about that. Still, Ananas wanted an answer. "Maybe. I don't really know"

"But you don't seem like a bad person to me. I think you're kind...if you're someone's copy, does that mean the real person is a bad person?"

 _That's a very good question, now that I think about it_. He didn't really know much about Sisyphus. All that he knew was that he was currently holding a piece of Sisyphus' SOUL, and he also had most of Sisyphus' memories. Despite that, he wasn't sure what kind of person Sisyphus was...but if he somehow was himself, there was no way Sisyphus was evil, right?

...right?

Ananas seemed to sense that the question had been a touchy topic for him, so she stopped talking about that. An uncomfortable silence settled over them while they descended down the stairs towards the village. Once they got near the cottages they noticed there was unrest. Graham and Byssa were around, talking to each other with panicked expression on their faces. "There they are!" Byssa exclaimed when she saw them approach. She came closer, looking at them from head to toe "They seem to be okay!"

"Thank god..." Graham said, approaching "Are you two okay? Nobody tried to attack you or anything?"

"No, not really. Why?" Syphus said. Byssa and Graham looked at each other before Graham answered that question.

"We hadn't seen Cohen since noon, we started looking for him twenty minutes ago. Byssa just found him at that hole in the rock he likes to sit at" Graham said. Ananas went around Syphus, looking around as if hoping to see Cohen.

"Wait, what's that supposed to mean?"

"She found Cohen there. Looks like he fainted, but he hasn't woken up"

"He's not dead!" Byssa hurried to add when Ananas made a horrified face "He's just unconscious. There's nothing to worry about"

"Nothing? He fell down!"

"No, I think he was sitting down when Byssa found him" Graham said.

"Sitting down? Are you joking?" she turned to Syphus "Can we help him? Syphus, we must help him!" That much was obvious, but they had just finished a trek into someone's SOUL. Syphus felt exhausted, the thought of having to go find Cohen in another SOUL right now made his whole body ache. The pained look he gave to Ananas didn't need any other words. "But we should do something!"

"We need to rest first"

"What if something else happens to Cohen?"

"We'll be looking over him" Graham said kindly, not understanding what exactly Ananas and Syphus were talking about. It took a while for Syphus to convince her that it was important to rest now, that once they were refreshed they'd be able to tackle Cohen's SOUL without much trouble. Syphus was about to walk to where he usually slept when he stopped, having remembered he usually slept at Cohen's cabin. That's where Cohen was right now, wasn't it? _...it'd be weird to sleep near Cohen's unconscious body..._ he thought. It was a selfish and kind of ugly thought, but he didn't want the constant reminder of what they need to do as soon as possible. Downtrodden, Syphus went to the Communal Building and laid down in a corner, the cold hard wood making a really poor bed. The smells of dinner were still in the air. _Tomorrow we'll deal with what happened to Cohen. We'll be able to do it...hopefully..._

-ooooo-

Ananas woke Syphus up at breakfast time, shaking him. She shoved toast in Syphus' hands, pushed him a cup of coffee, and made him stand up, all the while talking. "Okay, eat up. That's the breakfast, and I also got some of that gross coffee thing adults like, so eat it and then we'll go"

"H-Hey, let me eat in peace!"

Ananas exhaled. "Sorry, I want to help Cohen as soon as possible...I didn't think he'd fall down too..."

"I know, but we can't hurry and go unprepared" That was enough to get Ananas off his back during the rest of his breakfast. She walked around, vibrating until Syphus was done, and as soon as he finished the coffee she was once again near him. Syphus sighed. "I wish that had been cocoa..."

"You're done! Come on, let's go!"

"Calm down, Annie. Look, give me a moment. We'll go later" _Wait what? What did I just...?_ Ananas was as aghast as his own thoughts.

"What?!"

"I mean; we gain nothing by going in right now. Give me a while, I'll tell you when I'm ready"

"Why? What are you going to do that's more important than helping Cohen?!"

 _I don't know!_ Syphus held his head for a moment before replying. "Ugh, just leave me alone. Cohen isn't going to go anywhere. He's not going to die just because we wait for a few hours longer"

"How can you say that?!"

"Just trust me, Annie. I know what I'm doing" _What the hell am I saying?!_

Ananas sighed. "Fine, I'll trust you, but...I don't like this...we need to help Cohen"

"I know. We'll go later, I promise" he said. Ananas didn't look completely convinced, but she didn't insist. Now that he managed to calm Ananas down for now, Syphus stood up and left the building, going in direction of the exit of the village. While he was walking there, he was turning his own words around in his head, not understanding why he had said such things. Even now, although he wanted to stop, he found himself still walking towards the stairs. _Come on, what am I doing? I should be going to Cohen's cottage! We need to get him back!_

 _Why am I doing this?_ He knew very well what was the likely answer, but he didn't understand the reasons why his master would force him to ignore Cohen's situation and leave. Where was he even going?

But it wasn't like he could go against what Sisyphus decided – not because he couldn't, with some effort maybe he could do it – but pieces that went against their master's will tended to suffer horrible fates. Death would be the most merciful punishment he'd receive if Sisyphus took it as a personal insult.

Besides, the witch could look at the whole board. If he was sending the piece away, surely there was a reason for that. "I must trust him. It's possible he's me, I wouldn't do this without a reason. Yeah..." It was then when he noticed his way of thinking had changed:

When had he started to think the witch was another part of him?

-ooooo-

Cornio looked intermittently from the board to Sisyphus, who was staring back without any shame. "Why aren't you trying to rescue Cohen?" he asked, confused.

"I'm just biding my time, you know, preparing myself further"

"Oh. I suppose that may be fine" Leaving someone to the mercy of his own machinations was something Cornio didn't like, but it wasn't like he could force Sisyphus to play well. Cornio was already trying not to make the game unwinnable for Sisyphus, and that was as far as he could go in terms of giving a handicap. _I'll trust he knows what he's doing_ Cornio decided "What do you plan to do?"

"I think there's time during the day to improve one, maybe two Social Links, and then I'll go in. That should help get even better Personas"

"That could help" at least it did seem like Sisyphus had a plan in mind, that gave him some peace of mind.

Lucia was less convinced about it, though. She leaned forward, looking straight at Sisyphus' eyes for a moment. Sisyphus raised an eyebrow. "Something wrong?"

"No, nothing" she leaned back, mouthing one last word: 'yet'. Something about that made Cornio take a decision. No, he wasn't going to sit back and let things take a swerve towards a situation he didn't like. While he was thinking about it, a very familiar voice started talking inside him, one he knew very well. It was very rare to hear it nowadays, but when it had something to say...

 _"We can't let this continue!"_

"I'm not sure about this..." Cornio said to himself.

 _"Sometimes you must assert yourself. We should do something if we can!"_

Cornio was silent for a moment. "Okay. I will". The voice coming from his SOUL didn't reply, but that had been all the encouragement Cornio had needed for now. He stood up. "Lucia, help me with something over there" he said, leaving the lounge.

The request was something Lucia hadn't expected, but she didn't reject it. She stood up and followed him out of the lounge, closing the large doors behind her. The hallway was clean and elegant, showing the swirling purple skies beyond the window. The manor really was like an island in a sea of emptiness. The two of them stood in front of the window, making sure Sisyphus wasn't listening. Cornio hid behind a plant, just in case, and deactivated the firefly brooch he had in his pocket, showing his true form to Lucia. The arcane witch calmly acknowledged that.

"What did you want to talk about, ASRIEL?"

The former Prince of All Monsters leaned against the wall, his horns clicking against the marble. He had grown quite a lot during the ten years since he had been...abducted from his world, several heads taller than Lucia. During that time, it had turned rather obvious he had gotten more physical traits from Toriel than from Asgore. Although he was rather strong, he didn't have much bulk to show, his facial features were rounder than his father's, and other than the abundant tuft on his head, his fur simply refused to grow like Asgore's. His eyes were pretty much the only trait he inherited from his father – which is why Lucia had taken pity of him and given him a mane of hair for his human-looking illusion.

ASRIEL tilted his head. "I think this is starting to go wrong. Are you sure about what we're doing?"

"The truth is that I'm not sure anymore. You saw his SOUL?"

"Not really. Is there something wrong with his SOUL?"

Lucia crossed her arms. "Oh, right. I haven't told you. Allow me to tell you the risky methods of the Witch of Hope" she took a moment to organize her ideas, trying to think of a simple way to explain it. The exact methods were complicated, but maybe she could tell it all in a way anyone would understand? "Pieces on a game board usually aren't aware of our layer of existence. Only when a witch wants it, it can be aware of it, and even then it's unlikely it'll have the same thoughts and desires of the witch. So how to make a piece that not only is aware of the existence of this world, but also is very connected to the witch?"

ASRIEL thought for a moment. "It sounds like it's related to the SOUL. Is that why you were talking about it?"

"Yes. Nice, you were paying attention!" Lucia smiled for a moment "I had expected you to suggest to use the Shadow Self as a piece, and in theory that should work since it's the same person – just with certain traits amplified – but witches don't have a Shadow Self. It's part of our nature. So we decided to _create_ a Shadow Self for him.

We grabbed a Shadow from the collective unconscious and inserted into it a tiny piece of Sisyphus' SOUL. The intention was to give it Sisyphus' former appearance, and his mind, memories and feelings. It worked! It was all working perfectly"

ASRIEL wasn't having much of a problem following such explanation. The implications of that was something he had already figured out earlier, but he hadn't known the specific method behind it. "But it's not working anymore!" Or at least that's what it seemed, judging from her behavior Lucia smiled wryly.

"It's going awry. I didn't think the piece would start gaining its own ego...making its own decisions, different to Sisyphus'. I just checked his SOUL. I'm not sure yet, but I think the piece is starting to drain the rest of Sisyphus' SOUL"

"Then we must stop this! It can't be too late yet!"

"It _is_ too late. We can't stop the game; we have done too much just to stop it now!"

"Then what can we do? I don't want to hurt Sisyphus, what's going to happen to him?"

Lucia glanced at the closed doors. "I don't know, but if I had to guess...the more the piece starts differing from Sisyphus, the more it'll take their SOUL until it isn't stable anymore, and once it happens..." she went silent. Once ASRIEL spurred her to finish her thought, she placed her hand over her heart, unsure "I think the more the piece steals his SOUL, the more of Sisyphus' hidden desires will start showing in him.

It'll be as if his Shadow Self is sitting right there with us – and it'll pretty much our creation"

The thought of having to see first-hand the other side of Sisyphus' more concealed side of his personality was sickening in a way, ASRIEL felt as if something had grabbed him in a vice. Lucia's expression softened a bit. "Speaking of SOULs, how's yours?"

ASRIEL looked unsure. "I still have that voice inside"

"That's unusual. In Sisyphus' case the fusion was immediate. I'm not sure why you're not stable yet, but give it some time. Trust me, okay?"

It wasn't like he had any other option. Now that he thought about it, these last ten years pretty much everything had relied on Lucia's help. He still needed to thank her properly. She sure could be kind, for an evil witch. ASRIEL activated his brooch again, taking the illusion of the ragged person Sisyphus had met. "Let's go back before Sisyphus goes looking for us" Cornio suggested, grabbing the handles of the door. Lucia nodded.

"After you, little prince"

"I'm not little anymore, I'm pretty much an adult by now!"

"Could have fooled me. You're still a child in many ways. Maybe when this all is over you'll finally have a chance to grow up" she pointed at herself with her thumb "But don't ask me to help you unless you're interested in seeing stuff being ruined"

"You're not as bad as you think you are!" he said with complete honesty. Such naïve statement elicited a laugh from her, which she barely suppressed.

"Oh, you have absolutely no idea..." she said, opening the door "Good luck with Sisyphus"

He really was going to need luck, if things were starting to be as dire as they sounded.


	23. Cohen's SOUL - Orange SOUL

**Only courage in the face of doubt can lead one to the answer.**

* * *

Cohen's situation never left Syphus' mind, but it wasn't until the end of the day that he took the time to go help Cohen. It wasn't like he had decided to waste the day for no reason, all things considered it was a bit of a productive day. "Can we go _now_?" she asked, pouting a bit and looking at him with an expression that said 'I dare you to say no. I _dare_ you'

"Yes, we're going now. You better be ready" that day Syphus had taken the time to get the best equipment he could find; it'd be a waste if Ananas didn't use it.

-ooooo-

It was still early, so Undyne was still at her home. She polished her helmet, staring at her blurry reflection. The Captain of the Royal Guard was in better mood than the day before, there was something about a loved one returning from the brink of death that was encouraging and made her feel like she'd be capable of overcoming any obstacle. Alphys...she was such a strong person...

Her first action when she woke up was say 'sorry' to Undyne, as if falling down was something one needed to apologize for. That's precisely what Undyne had said, sounding more boisterous than usual to disguise how scared she had felt about Alphys falling down, but Alphys had simply repeated 'I'm sorry, Undyne, I'm so sorry' before the hospital employees had gotten Undyne to leave the patient alone. Undyne planned to visit Alphys later, apparently she was going to be allowed to return to the laboratory that morning – with the condition she returned to the hospital every day for the next month for a check-up, to make sure she wasn't going to fall down again. Alphys had stoically accepted that, nodding with resigned expression.

Undyne put on her armor, making sure her gauntlets were properly adjusted, and opened the door of her house. There was someone there! Undyne instinctively formed a spear in her hand, prepared for an attack, when she realized it wasn't a human or a hostile person. Syphus was there, with his hand raised in the air to knock on the door. "Hello there, Undyne"

"You! What're you doing here?" she let the spear dissolve in the air. Undyne wasn't very happy to see him, after the little number he had done in Alphys' hospital room. Syphus shrugged, his pupils narrowing a bit more than usual. Without his jacket, it was pretty obvious he was awfully skinny – well, rather fitting for a snake. It was almost amazing his clothes made him look a tad bulkier than he actually was. Not that he was the only monster in the Underground that made such thing happen, though.

"I'm here to apologize for what happened yesterday. I left without explaining anything, and I guess you're angry about that"

Undyne looked at him sternly for a moment before sighing. "Forget about that. It's no big deal. You better not do that again, but it doesn't matter anymore"

"Really? All is okay now?"

"Yeah. You think I'm the type of person that holds grudges?" she said. Syphus' skeptic expression made her laugh, her laughter resonating in the cavern "Come on! What's that face for? Most people would be offended if you made that face when talking to them!"

"You didn't seem to me the type to bygones be bygones, that's it"

"Punk, if I didn't forgive or leave anything in the past I'd have refused to train you a few days ago" She wasn't wrong about that. Undyne didn't have to bother with him, yet she did. That by itself should be enough to show she wasn't the type to hold grudges. Undyne looked at the clock on the wall, tapping her fingers against the helmet in her hands "Hey, since you're here why don't we try the next step in your physical training?"

"Right now?"

"I have some free time right now! I had planned to go to the headquarters early today, but it's not like anyone's keeping count of how many hours I spend there. That's because I'm the captain! I answer only to the big guy, and he'll understand if I take my time once or twice" Undyne left her helmet aside "Besides I still need to show you how to truly hit hard with that halberd. You willing to do that today?"

Syphus took the halberd he had left to the side of the house, brandishing it. It looked like he had gotten used to the weight of the steel halberd. "Let's do it!"

The training session was different to the one from last time. While it did start with some exercises to warm up his arms and prepare for the tough movements she had planned now, soon he was moving the halberd slowly from side to side, letting her guide his movements. She had her gauntlets on, there wasn't much danger of her realizing his scales weren't real. "Keep it level. I'm going to let go. Don't drop it!" she let go of his arms. Syphus managed to keep the halberd up without much difficulty. His arms were trembling slightly, but he endured the weight of the halberd. "Nice! I thought you'd have more trouble than this"

"I have been practicing" Syphus said with a wry smile. Not much of a lie, that halberd had been vital to traverse Alphys' SOUL. Undyne grinned.

"Good! You have initiative, I like that!" she pointed at a training dummy not too far away "I want you to attack the dummy over there. Tear it in half if you can!"

Syphus moved the halberd in an arc, testing how he'd do it. It was true that in a real battle he wouldn't have the time to think his moves like this, but since there was no danger right now... "Like this?"

"You're going to fall flat on your face if you move that thing like that. Move your hands further up the pole"

Once Syphus got the right technique, Undyne told him again to cleave the training dummy. Syphus stepped forward, raised the halberd with a scream of fake rage and slammed down the blade on the dummy's head, cutting it from top to half of its body. The split dummy fell down, Syphus retired the halberd with a grin, just to almost drop it in surprise when the dummy repaired itself. "What the-?!"

"Surprised? There's a ghost living inside that dummy" Undyne pointed at the dummy's face "Don't say a single word. There's no time for a rant right now" the dummy grumbled something unintelligible and repetitive-sounding but didn't defy Undyne "It's a living for them"

"So it's like an infinite dummy"

"Something like that. Do it again, this time from the side!"

There was something nice and almost therapeutic about slicing a dummy over and over, watching it mend itself together, and repeat the process over and over. It also helped that Undyne shouted with excitement every time Syphus did the moves correctly, to the point where he started yelling too. "Taste justice!" Syphus shrieked, slamming the spike into the dummy.

"YEAH! Make the dummy know what justice is made of!"

"AaaaaaaHAAAAA!" Syphus removed the spike, poking the dummy again. He was having fun, like there was nothing to worry about, but part of him was feeling very guilty. Cohen was trapped into his own SOUL right now. Would there be consequences for a prolonged stay? Syphus let go of the halberd, distracted. _...what am I doing here? I'm such a moron..._

"What? Why did you stop?"

"Sorry, Undyne, I have to stop"

Undyne grabbed the halberd, giving it back to Syphus. "It's because of the dummy? I told you, there's a ghost inside—"

"It's not that. I just need to go do something"

"Is it work?" she was already resigned to Syphus going away before her free time ended, but she was honestly curious about that. Syphus made a pained expression, not looking at Undyne to the face. _I shouldn't be fooling around...why am I here?!_

"No, it's something else"

Something about what Syphus said made Undyne remember something. She took her helmet, patting it. "Hey, I just remembered! There's something you can do for the Royal Guard. Why don't you try applying to help at the headquarters?"

Syphus' hand went to the brooch without deactivating it. Going to the very core of the troop that patrolled and had as a mission fight any humans that fell into the Underground? That was insane! Yet...there was something strangely alluring about it. Syphus' feathers stood on end slowly, getting on guard. "I thought you had said I wasn't a good pick for being a member of the Royal Guard"

"Yeah, and that hasn't changed. I'm talking about a part-time job in the Royal Guard headquarters at New Home. You'd shine the armors, keep stuff clean, basically be our support and keep everything ready. Give it a try!"

"I don't know..."

"I'm not promising anything, but you should apply. You have the right attitude, you're proficient, you'd do great! How about it?" It wasn't that bad of an offer, and it was likely the pay was going to be higher than at Grillby's. Lately he wasn't the most hard-working guy, so just to cover his bases he told Undyne it was likely he wouldn't have time every day for the job. Undyne didn't seem too worried, though. "Don't worry about that. The pay is nothing amazing, so nobody expects you to go everyday"

Syphus was about to ask for more details when he again felt pangs of guilt about not going to help Cohen immediately, so he decided to cut the conversation short. "Alright, I'll apply to that job, but why're you offering it to me?"

"Because we're friends and you look like you need a good pick-me-up" she said rather naturally. For a moment Syphus wasn't sure what to say, so she continued "It looked like you had something in your head. Something bothering you?"

 _Am I that obvious?_ "Not really, but thanks for asking"

"Fine. You can count on me anytime, don't be afraid of talking to me whenever you want, got it?"

 **You sense Undyne's earnest kindness**

IMAGE JUSTICE RANK 3

 **The Undyne Social Link has reached Rank 3!**

 **Your power to create Personas of the Justice Arcana has grown!**

Undyne and Syphus walked to the part of Waterfall where the paths divided, where the two of them would take their separate paths. Syphus still had a rather conflicted face but Undyne didn't press any further. Better to let her friend talk to her whenever he needed, without forcing him to do it. Still...did he not trust her enough to share whatever was eating at him? Well, she wasn't going to demand he talked, anyways. Before he went too far away she called for him. "Hey, did you know Alphys is already back at the lab?"

That made Syphus stop immediately. "Really? So soon?"

"Yeah! Alphys said she wanted to get back to work as soon as possible. She's amazing" Undyne pointed with her head towards Hotland "You should visit her sometime, I bet she'd be happy to see you"

That wasn't a bad idea either, especially if Alphys felt better and was able to return to her laboratory so soon. Thanking Undyne, Syphus went in direction of the Hidden Village. A new thought had crossed his mind, and since it was directly related to his efforts to break the Barrier, he felt less guilty about leaving the rescue mission for later. Besides, bringing Ananas with him to see Alphys was a good idea too. The girl deserved to see that Alphys was okay.

-ooooo-

Igor really knew a lot about the workings of those strange worlds that were the SOULs. The moment Syphus asked why Alphys' SOUL didn't have Shadows roaming around, Igor was able to answer, sounding completely sure about what he was saying: "Monsters and humans aren't as different as you may think. Their SOULs are made of the same components and emotions. You may think of it as the method of tarot reading: the way you lie the cards may change, but the cards themselves don't. Do you understand?"

"I do, actually"

"But there's a difference between human and monster SOULs: monsters are better than humans at compartmentalizing their emotions and feelings in their SOULs. Human SOULs are more complicated, which is why monsters tend to see human SOULs as...more lacking in certain qualities, and why instead of seeing Shadows you see them take the form of Personas – very fragile Personas, where the slightest emotional imbalance on them may cause them to revert into Shadows again"

The explanation was simple enough to be understood, yet convoluted enough for him to not be sure about the implications of it all. Did that mean all the Personas he saw in Alphys' SOUL were related to her personality in some way? Even though he thought about it while he arranged the fusion of a few new Personas, he didn't get to any big epiphanies about anything. Thanking Alphonse for their aid, Syphus left the Velvet Room, feeling the cold air of Waterfall. He was completely prepared for the trip into Cohen's SOUL, but before that...

Ananas' expression of annoyance when Syphus announced they were going into Cohen's SOUL later vanished when he mentioned Alphys, the girl's annoyance turned into concern. "Alphys...is she really okay?"

"Apparently she is. Undyne said—"

"Wait, Undyne?" Ananas frowned, staring at the ground "The same Undyne of the Royal Guard? Th-That Undyne? She's going to be there...?"

"No, she's at work. It'll be just you, me, and Alphys. We should all talk about what happened, yeah?" such proposal did seem convincing enough for Ananas. After she put on her cowboy costume and her cloak, she followed Syphus to Hotland, to the laboratory. Just like Undyne had said, Alphys did look happy to see Syphus, and her happiness morphed into surprise when Ananas revealed herself.

"S-So you're that human! And you..." Alphys looked outside from side to side before getting them into the laboratory "Syphus, y-you're a human too?"

"We'll explain once we're inside" Syphus said. Soon the three of them were sitting on the couch, Syphus showing the firefly brooch and explaining what it did. Hearing that such a small thing made Syphus look like a monster and allowed them to enter SOULs impressed Alphys, she turned it in her claws over and over.

"That's amazing! This little object can do that? How d-does it work?"

"No idea. It just does"

Ananas put her hands on her knees, leaning forward. "Where did you find it?"

"It was given to me" he hurried to take the brooch away, putting it away "Anyways, we're here to explain what happened and ask you to keep silent about it" The explanation about the whole thing with Personas, Shadows and fighting it all took quite a while. Alphys listened intently, her face showing confusion at times but she didn't interrupt. Once the tale was finished, she stared at her claws, trying to process everything she had heard.

"Wow...that's a lot to think about...and so w-weird" she paused for a moment before looking at him "How many humans are down here in the Underground?"

"Eight" Ananas answered, taking a can of soda from the fridge without permission. Alphys, too busy processing everything she had been told, sunk her face in her hands.

"Oh my god..."

"If you have any questions I'll try to answer them" Syphus offered, glaring silently at Ananas so she left the soda back into the fridge.

"...what'll happen now? I didn't get a Persona...did you need my h-help?"

"It'd have been nice to have another team member, but there's nothing you can do about that now"

"I'm such a failure..." Alphys stood up, slowly walking around "What my Shadow said was right. I'm a coward...I know what I ha-have done is awful, all those lies I have told...and now I failed at facing myself" neither Syphus nor Ananas knew what to say, they felt very awkward hearing such things. The silence seemed to have been the right choice, without having them reply to what she said she had to think about what she had just said "...I have to start getting better, somehow. How can I help you?"

"You don't need to force yourself to—"

"Tell me how I can help! I'm begging y-you here" proving herself useful was a good first step towards redeeming herself, in Alphys' opinion. Surely she could be of some use despite not having a Persona! And even though Syphus immediately said he wasn't going to take her with them, she insisted. "I know I'm already making that big weapon you need to shatter the B-Barrier, but I...wait a minute...that's it!" her spirits lifted once she saw a way she could be useful.

"What? What's it?"

"I can make good weapons for your team! Bring m-me some of those weird m-materials you talked about, and I'll make weapons th-that'll help you in your quest"

Ananas' eyes widened. "You really can do that?"

"Of course! I'm pretty good at e-engineering, making special weapons is going to be easy" Alphys stopped for a moment, noticing what she had said "...I said that...hear that, I'm a great engineer!"

Syphus shrugged. It wasn't a bad offer, and stronger weapons would always be welcome. If Alphys wanted to do that, then sure! Why not? Although letting her do it for free made him a bit uncomfortable. "As long as I can pay you for that then sure, I accept"

"Thank you! I promise you, y-you won't regret it. I'll be of help...and it'll be the first step I'll make towards i-improving myself. I won't hide from myself a-anymore" Alphys stopped, once again weighing her words before nodding "Yes, I mean it. I-I'll get better until m-my own Shadow has nothing to scold m-me for!"

 **You feel Alphy's desire for change.**

IMAGE RANK 4

 **The Alphys Social Link has reached Rank 4!**

 **Your power to create Personas of the Priestess Arcana has grown!**

Ananas passed Alphys her gun, telling her she had run out of bullets and therefore her gun was useless. "Hum...I'm not going to ask why you have a gun...but maybe I can make you one th-that doesn't need bullets"

"You can really do that? I want to do some good damage to the Shadows!"

"That should be easy" the royal scientist glanced at Syphus "I can make a halberd for y-you, too. Bring me what I'll tell y-you" she started rattling a long list of materials, barely slow enough for Syphus to keep track of it "...and some sharpened metal would be good too, and I want to s-see if talc can temper s-some kinds of steel, a-and...uh, bring me everything you have. I'll see what I can do"

"Can you make some armors too?" Ananas asked.

Alphys shook her head. "I'm not sure I could make good ones. You'll have to ask the Queen for that"

"Toriel? She must have better things to do than make clothes for someone like me" Syphus said.

"N-No! You didn't know? She designed the armors for the Royal G-Guard. The Queen is pretty g-good at blacksmithing...maybe it's because she's proficient with f-fire magic" Alphys played with the safety of Ananas' gun, examining the mechanism "But I don't think s-she'll do it quickly unless the Royal G-Guard sends a formal request to her, s-signed by the captain"

 _Okay, it's settled: getting that job in the Royal Guard is going to be very helpful_. What better way to convince Undyne to sign something like that? Standing up, Syphus told her he'd go for all the materials he had obtained from his three expeditions so far. Once they left, Alphys stood up and went to the second floor of her laboratory, grinning to herself. The possibility of crafting some fun weapons was rather enticing, and practicing her skills was always a nice thing to do. Besides, if it led to them getting more stuff for the Barrier-shattering weapon she was making then even better. Cheered up, Alphys went to her work table, preparing some tools to start working as soon as Syphus returned. "Oh?" Among them she found the cellphone she had been making for the child with the stripped sweater. Had she left it in the drawer with her tools? She didn't remember. Just in case, she checked the different functions the cellphone had, quickly finding something odd.

"This is odd...I thought I had left it full" she mumbled, checking the fuel container for the jetpack function. The cellphone could transform into a jetpack for a very short amount of time – as long as there was enough fuel for that. "Oh well"

It wasn't farfetched to think she was mistaken about leaving it full.

-ooooo-

It took Alphys the whole day to make the weapons she had promised, but the wait was worth it. When Syphus and Ananas returned that evening to pick up their new weapons – Syphus having spent the day in Snowdin working at Grillby's while Sans messed with more stuff he had received from Syphus - they found Alphys standing amidst a considerable amount of weapons. Not only there were several halberds and guns around, they also saw several pairs of tough-looking gloves, a spear and a thick club. _Wow, someone was busy today!_

"Look at everything I made" Alphys said with pride, picking up some of the weapons. "All those materials were so unusual! It was fun to see what I could do" Her efforts were notable, she displayed all the options to them and encouraged them to choose the one they liked the most "None of these need bullets" she explained to Ananas, showing the guns.

"What does this one fire?"

"Thorns! And you don't even need to reload it, it's, um, a bit hard to explain how that works" she then showed Syphus the halberds "Pick the one you want, but if I were you, I'd go for th-this one over here...it's made of t-tungsten and it should increase y-your strength" The weapons were very well made, sharp and shiny. "S-So, what do you two think?"

"It's awesome! Thank you, thank you!" Ananas had already put her new gun in her holster, almost jumping with joy.

"I'm impressed; you do know what you're doing" Syphus added. Alphys, happy, chuckled, picking up the weapons they didn't choose.

"It was easy...I didn't think I'd do all this in a single day..."

"That's why I want you to have this" Syphus left a lot of gold in Alphys' hands. When she tried to say it was all free, Syphus closed his eyes tiredly. "Don't reject it, please. You deserve a reward" Arguing for that was going to be a waste of time, so she put it aside.

It had been more than a day since Cohen had fallen down. Although Ananas was happy to have a stronger weapon, the more they got closer to the Hidden Village the more anxious she looked. "We're going in now, right? We have to do it now" she kept asking.

"Yeah, we'll do it now" he kept answering. The two entered Cohen's cabin, finding Ciruel inside. He looked at the shiny halberd Syphus had brought but didn't comment about it. "Have you been here all day?"

"Kinda" Ciruel suppressed a yawn "I'm so tired..."

"Annie and I can watch over Cohen for the rest of the night. You go rest, we'll take care of him"

"You shouldn't say stuff like 'take care of' someone when you're holding a sharp halberd" he said but he stood up, now yawning openly and leaving the cabin. Once Ciruel was gone and they waited ten minutes or so in case he came back unexpectedly, Syphus took out the firefly brooch, pinning it on Cohen's robe. He also rummaged among the stuff Sans had made with random materials, giving Ananas a ring.

"Take this. It'll sometimes reflect physical attacks"

"Really? This thing?" somehow it was hard to believe a ring could do such thing.

"Don't ask me how it works. All Sans said was 'magic' and wiggled his fingers, what a jerk" he grabbed an accessory for himself. Leaving aside that they still had no armor, they were better prepared than any other time before. "Are you ready?"

"Let's go" Ananas grabbed Syphus' sleeve. Once the two of them were sitting down on the floor next to Cohen's mattress, Syphus pressed the brooch, activating it.

-ooooo-

This time Ananas woke up first. When Syphus opened his eyes, he found her shaking his shoulder, trying to wake him up. "Syphus? Syphus, I think something happened"

"What...?"

"We're still in the village"

She wasn't entirely wrong. They were in a small room, surrounded by piles of cardboard boxes. The quality of the wooden construction that formed the room revealed they were currently inside the storage of the big communal building of the village, the dining room and the small kitchen were downstairs. High on the wall there was a small window, a bit too high for Syphus to look through. "Huh...looks like Cohen's SOUL takes the form of the village. It's weird we're starting in this storage, though"

"Let's look through the window"

"Stand on my shoulders" Syphus crouched so Ananas could do as instructed and look through the window. The girl held on the frame, peering over it into the dark confines of the cavern. None of the shacks she could see had any lights on, there were no signs of life outside them – at least nothing that wasn't Shadows. Unlike Alphys' SOUL, the Shadows in Cohen's SOUL looked like the oily fragments of psyche they were. "See something?"

"I don't see Cohen; I just see those weird Shadows that look like blobs with masks"

"Then everything is like normal" Syphus carefully got Ananas to the floor "Alright, strategy meeting: stay close to me. We don't know what may be lurking anywhere. There may even be Shadows in this room"

"Will you keep using that giant made of paper?"

"No, I got rid of it to make better Personas. I have some good immunities! But...hm...let's just hope nothing in this place uses ice" Once again most of his Personas had a glaring weakness.

"Don't worry, I'll defend you with fire! Now..." Ananas looked at the boxes "Let's look for supplies here"

"Supplies? We're staying here for a few hours; this isn't a camping trip"

"I know! But I want to see what's in here. We could find something useful!" It wasn't that bad of an idea, so they started checking the boxes. Most were empty, but a few had random healing items that could actually come useful. Ananas took another box, opening it with glee, when something slid out of it. "S-Syphus!"

The ink and slime overflowed the box until it started spilling on the floor, some if it leaking down between the wooden planks. Ananas aimed her gun at the growing mound of ink while it took form, growing until it overtook most of the small storage room. The ink started compressing, the Shadow's frame forming and solidifying into steel. It wasn't a small thing, a levitating horse armor formed, shining ominously in the dim light, and over it there was its rider, holding a large medieval spear. "That one's definitely dangerous" Syphus mumbled. Hard not to be intimidated by a knight that almost filled the whole room.

Ananas, trying not to panic, fired her gun, hitting the Intrepid Knight right on its mask. It was barely fazed. _Quick, analysis!_ The analysis showed nothing good. It was astoundingly sturdy. "Step back!" he said to Ananas while he summoned one of his new Personas. A bizarre-looking woman with an odd green and blue pattern and purple hair emerged from Syphus, raised a hand, and struck the Knight with a lightning bolt. Although the Knight did crumble down to the floor, the amount of damage done was negligible. _Damn it, we're in big trouble!_

"What kind of Persona is that?" Ananas had frozen, looking dumbstruck at where Queen Mab had been a moment ago.

"Forget about that and attack!" Syphus slammed the face of the Knight's horse with his halberd, not even making a dent. Ananas wasn't doing much better with her bullets, most bouncing from the Knight's armor. They had barely managed to dent its health when the Knight rose, its lance pointing at Syphus. "Change of plans, we get out of here!"

"What?!"

"It's too strong! We don't stand a chance against it!"

As if that was its cue, the Intrepid Knight started charging up an attack, its medieval lance shining brightly. Not wanting to be harmed by whatever it was readying, Ananas yelped and followed Syphus through the narrow hallway. Behind them, a thunderous blast tore apart the wooden wall that separated the storage from the hallway, broken planks and splinters crashing against the outer wall of the building. They had narrowly avoided an extremely strong attack.

The second floor of the communal building wasn't very big. It didn't take long for them to reach the other side of the floor, finding the stairs that'd lead them to the first floor. They had been about to run down the stairs when something started coming up, something big that was blocking the way. A large golden statue was floating upwards, too wide for them to run aside it. "Come on, you have to be joking!"

"Uh, Syphus...?" Ananas inched closer to him, looking behind her, the Knight approaching. The Relic advanced from the opposite direction.

"We're going through here!" he shouted, stabbing the Relic with the spike of his halberd. If they had to choose between taking their chances with the Knight or with the Relic, the Relic definitely was the better option. Even if they couldn't defeat it, they had to push it aside at the very least. The Relic tried to counter with electricity, but Syphus' actual Persona was immune to it. He pretty much jumped on the Relic, his weight making it float down the stairs.

Ananas went down the stairs, Hippolyta using its axe to deflect the Knight's lance. The girl looked around the first floor. There were no windows, and the double door she knew was on the wall wasn't there. All she could see was the wall made of logs, without even a hint there was a door there. That was going to be a big problem now – there was no escape route! "Syphus! There's no door here!"

"Why am I not surprised" he muttered, cleaving the Relic with the halberd and finishing it "Are you sure?"

"There's no door!" she repeated right before the Knight's lance hit her right on the back, throwing her against the wall of logs. Ananas, out of breath due to the impact, fell to the floor, and Hippolyta vanished, leaving her defenseless while she struggled to stand up. The Knight charged up again, rearing back the lance to hit Ananas again. With a grunt, the Knight attacked, hitting Syphus.

The piece had hurried from the other side of the room, changing his Persona to the only one he had that resisted physical damage, and blocked with his body the lance, stopping it from hitting Ananas. The impact made him fall to his knees, woozy, while Ananas used fire spells with her Persona to get the Knight away from him. "Are you okay?" she tried to help him stand up.

"...I think I am...that one really hurt" he said, his back creaking "Forget about me, we need a way out"

"There's no door!"

"Then make one!" It couldn't be simpler than that. Either someone broke the wall of the building so they could leave, or they stayed until the Knight killed them, and since dying was not a good option...while Syphus stood up and faced the Knight, Ananas looked at the wall. It depended on her, and the only way she had was with Hippolyta.

"Come on...!" she mumbled, Hippolyta appearing and raising the axe, bringing it down on the wooden wall. Splinters and pieces of wood fell all around her, it seemed like it'd take a while to make a way out. How long would Syphus resist? No, she couldn't leave him alone. She'd help. Ananas turned around, her mind focusing on controlling Hippolyta to continue breaking down part of the wall. "I'm ready!" Ananas took out her gun. Syphus glanced at her while he readied his halberd.

"Are you sure you want to do this too?"

"I'll do it"

There was no time for arguing. The Knight had charged up its attack level once again. _Please stay safe, Annie..._ he'd try his best to protect her, but he could make no promises. _We just need to keep this Shadow busy until Annie is done with that wall. It shouldn't be too difficult._ "Rakshasa!"

His only defense against the Knight's powerful physical attacks was that Persona. The demon floated in the air, holding its swords at the ready. At Syphus' signal, Rakshasa pounced forward, aiming with its swords at the Knight's horse, while Ananas shot at the Knight's head. The bullets bounced on its head, the swords slashed at the Knight's armor and left marks on it. Unfazed, the Intrepid Knight moved forward, trying to run Syphus over with the horse. Syphus dove to the side, falling on the splinters from the wall. "Wait, I got it!" Ananas aimed at the eyes of the Knight's mask, it wasn't that much better than what they were already doing. "Nevermind"

The next minute seemed eternal for both of them. Ananas tried to break the wall as fast as possible, but she still wasn't used to directing her Persona in a completely different task than what she was doing. More often than not she completed missed with her bullets. Syphus wasn't faring much better, despite Rakshasa's fierce attacks the Shadow was almost completely unharmed. "This never ends!" he yelled in frustration, having once again deviated the Knight's lance with Rakshasa's swords.

"I'm almost done!" Ananas ran to the other side of the room, shooting at the Knight's back. It was logical that staying as separate from each other as possible would divert its attention! And indeed, it did – much to her chagrin, when she saw the Knight turned around and aimed at her. With a cry of war, the Shadow bolted towards Ananas, surprising her. "No!" she squealed, cowering to try not get too hurt. The Knight's lance was aiming at her head, but the blow never came. Suddenly, a metallic noise rung from very close to her. When Ananas opened her eyes she just saw a transparent barrier vanishing in front of her, like a barrier. Was that the ring accessory's power? "W-What...?"

When two swords got stuck between the plaques of the horse's armor Ananas jumped back, startled. Rakshasa, having leverage on the Shadow, pulled from its swords, dragging the Intrepid Knight away. "How much longer, Annie?"

"I think it's done!" Ananas said between shots, more of her bullets, bouncing on the Knight's armor. Indeed, right after that a noise like a falling tree shook the room. Syphus turned his head around right in time to see the hole on the wall and Hippolyta rushing with a fire spell at the Knight. "But we can't win!"

"Then we're going to run away" taking advantage of Ananas distracting the Knight, Syphus changed back to Queen Mab, hitting the Shadow with a Zio spell. Stunned, the Knight fell to the floor. Syphus hit the Knight with another bolt of lightning for good measure, just in case, while Ananas ran through the hole on the wall. Looking back to make sure it wasn't following them, Syphus followed Ananas until they left the building behind, they hid behind a large rock, catching their breath.

"...that was too hard. Are all Shadows going to be like that?" Ananas huffed, doubling over with exhaustion.

"I hope not! We'll be screwed if they are"

"And what about Cohen? If this is his SOUL then his evil copy must be around here, right? We need to find him before his copy catches him!"

Syphus patted Ananas' back, trying to breath normally. "We will, don't worry. First we'll need to find where's Cohen, and that means we'll fight more Shadows until then. Do you feel ready?" A bit hesitant about going now, Ananas touched her protective ring. The thought of finding Cohen and potentially finding out his suppressed thoughts and traits was unnerving to her, mostly because it was someone she knew. Seeing the secrets of a stranger like Alphys was one thing, seeing the hidden side of someone she had seen every day the last six months was a completely different thing. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah...I'm fine, pardner..." she stood up, making her hat cover her face "Let's get going"

-ooooo-

Ananas aimed at another Eagle-like Shadow, the bullet hitting it right on its feathery chest and making the Shadow disappear. The swarm seemed to be endless, right after finishing the group that had been attacking just now another approached, flying and screeching. "Hurry up!" she demanded to Syphus.

"I'm doing this as fast as I can!" he said, hacking away the wood of the cabin, Rakshasa working with its sword not too far from there. The wood the cabins were made of was surprisingly resistant, it was taking ridiculously long to break it.

A ball of fire impacted him on the back, making him double over for a second before resuming his work. His back stung, like his skin was severely sunburned. The Jupiter Eagles were rather annoying, managing to hit both Ananas and him with fire attacks. At first Ananas had tried to defend him, blocking the fire with Hippolyta and leaving herself vulnerable, but Syphus had insisted her to defend herself, leaving him with just the resistance of his Persona to help him.

"Bang! Bang bang!" Ananas was muttering, firing her gun with a lot of expertise for someone of her age. One after another, the Eagles spiraled to the ground before crashing and vanishing in smoke. Another three Eagles flew towards them, their feathers smoldering before balls of fire impacted the ground around Ananas. The girl jumped back, firing more bullets and eliminating the Eagles in matter of seconds. "Are you done _now_?!"

"Yeah!" the noise of part of the wooden wall falling into the cabin echoed in the cavern. _Finally!_ As soon as that noise spread around and the dust settled, Ananas grabbed onto her hat and ran inside, right when an unknown Maya ran away and towards the exit of the Village, flailing its arms. Syphus tried to crush it with Rakshasa's swords, and Ananas fired her gun several times in quick succession, but every attack missed, it was too fast to hit. "Damn it!"

"We'll get it next time"

"This is the _fourth_ time!"

They were still looking for Cohen. None of the cabins of the village had doors or windows, they were like perfectly sealed wooden boxes. Could Cohen really be inside one of them? "He must be; I don't see the old man around here" Ananas had said after they went around the Village. That's why they started breaking open the cabins, Ananas protecting them from the Shadows while Syphus cut the walls of the cabins. So far, all they had managed to do was release a Maya per cabin – was that important? All the Mayas they released were shiny, with a reddish color instead of the deep black they usually had, and unexpectedly quick. Not that it mattered, they hadn't managed to hit any of them.

Ananas entered the cabin first, raising her gun in case there was a foe ready to pounce on them. She quickly scanned the room, not finding anything suspicious, there was no more stuff than the rustic furniture all cabins had. "He's not here!"

"There are only two left. Come on, let's go" Syphus grabbed the edge of the hole he had made and looked outside, finding out there was no Shadows nearby. Great. He stepped outside prudently, keeping his guard up...and then noticed Ananas hadn't followed him. When he returned to the cabin he found her standing there, seemingly deep in thought "Annie?"

"Um...can we talk...?"

"Sure. What is it?"

Ananas took off her hat, turning it around in her hands morosely. "Can I...go home now?"

"What?!" Syphus almost dropped the halberd in surprise. Seriously? Was Ananas trying to bail out in middle of the mission? Ananas cringed, a bit startled.

"It's not that I'm scared, it's just..." she paused, looking at him with puzzlement "You don't feel weird? That we will see Cohen's hidden side?"

"No, but—"

"I don't want to see Cohen's hidden side. I'm scared about what I'm going to see" she stared at her hat as if it was the most interesting object ever "I'm afraid what he'll say. Does he hate me? What if he says he hates me? What if he hates everybody?"

"So that's what you're afraid of..." Syphus sighed and went to a side of the cabin, sitting down and inviting her to sit nearby. This was going to be a bit awkward to discuss, but if Ananas was feeling afraid then he needed to make sure she'd be okay. Once she did, Syphus extended his hand and put it on her shoulder in what he hoped was a comforting gesture "I know this makes you nervous, but we can't turn our backs to our duty just because we're afraid"

Ananas blinked, unsure what to say. "I know, but...I'm scared..."

"I'll be there with you all the way. I promise you I'm going to stay by your side no matter what Cohen's Shadow says, you have my support"

"I know" apparently his words weren't as comforting as Syphus had hoped "We're going to have to fight Cohen...right?"

Syphus smiled uncomfortably, taking his hand away. "Maybe. You think you can do that?"

"...no. But I'll have to anyways"

"Pretty much, yeah. It'll be like going to the dentist, it's something you don't want to do but you have to do"

"What's a dentist?" Ananas tilted her head. Syphus suppressed another sigh, his simile having fallen flat on its face. When Ananas stood up, dusting the dirt off her pants, she nodded half-heartedly. "Whatever. I just hope I won't hear him say he hates everyone. We all like Cohen, even if he's so annoying sometimes"

"Really?"

"Yeah..." Ananas hugged her knees, putting her chin on her knees and gazing ahead, nostalgic "You know, when I first arrived to the village, Cohen let me sleep in his cottage until my cabin was ready. The first night I couldn't sleep...I wanted to return home, to see my parents again. Mom Toriel was nice, but she was not my real mom. I didn't want to be there.

I think I cried a lot that night. When Cohen entered he found me crying..."

-ooooo-

"What's wrong?"

The old man looked at Ananas with worry. Ananas was huddled in a corner of the cottage, crying into her cowboy hat. She looked disheveled, dirty, like she wanted to do no more than stay where she was and not move for a long, long while. When she heard Cohen's voice Ananas raised her head, barely managing to say something between sobs.

"I-I wanna go home...I don't want to be here!"

Cohen crossed his arms. "You know where you are, don't you?"

"I don't care! I want to leave!"

"We can't leave. You're trapped with us here until the Barrier is gone" Cohen answered gruffly, without even trying to soften the blow. It was so blunt Ananas stared at him in surprise, having stopped crying. Stupor replaced her sadness.

"What...? I'm trapped here forever...?"

"Pretty much, yeah"

"But that can't be possible, I don't wanna be trapped here! I-I'm the Sheriff, I can't be...!" her eyes welled with tears again. Cohen, softening a bit because of Ananas' reaction, grabbed the quilt on is mattress, putting it on Ananas' shoulder.

"Here. You'll feel better after you're a bit warmer. Are you hungry?" he asked. Ananas nodded, wiping the tears off her eyes with her hands "Alright, I'll solve that. I'll be back in a minute" When he returned, he had brought some of that soup Graham made so well. Leaving it in front of Ananas, Cohen sat on his mattress, watching her with attention. "What's your name?"

"I'm...I'm the Sheriff"

He didn't press her for a name. If she wasn't willing to say it right now then maybe once she felt better she'd feel more cooperative. "Alright, Sheriff, listen here: you're not alone. We're all the same than you, trapped down here, with Toriel being the only person who cares about us in this whole mountain. You'll be okay as long as you're here with us"

"...I like Toriel..."

"Nice. Give us a chance. We may be a bunch of weird random people, but we're all together in here" Cohen extended a gloved hand "What do you say? Will you be part of our village?" It took Ananas a few seconds before she dared to shake hands with him, Cohen moving hers with a little too much energy "Good! I'm Cohen, and I'm the guardian of this village"

"The guardian? What does that mean?"

"I'm the one who keeps the monsters at bay. It's thanks to me" the old man grinned cockily, puffing his chest out "As long as I'm here nobody here has anything to fear"

Ananas' eyes widened with admiration. "Really? You take care of us?"

"Exactly. That's what the guardian does, and that's me, never forget that. That's why you can ask me for help anytime you want. Got it?"

"Yes! I see!"

"Good" Cohen stood up from his mattress "I was here just to check on you. Tomorrow Graham will start building your cabin. Until then you can sleep over there, if you want" he pointed at the mattress on the other side of the cottage "I'll now return to my spot near the exit of the village. Keep my quilt for tonight if you want to, but please return it in the morning"

Ananas wrapped the quilt around her a bit tighter. "Thank you" she said shyly.

"I made it myself, you know. Someday I'll make one just for you, I promise" Cohen smiled and left the cabin. Now alone, Ananas dragged her feet until she reached her mattress, lying down on it and making a cocoon with Cohen's quilt. It was warm, comforting, and for the first time since she had arrived to the village she felt calm. She didn't believe they were all trapped with no way out. Quietly, Ananas took the decision to find out more about the Barrier and about ways to escape. It wasn't fair they had to stay under a mountain for the rest of their lives just because they fell down a hole on the mountain.

At least she had all this people to take care of her. Maybe things wouldn't be so bad as long as they were there for her.

-ooooo-

"He was so nice during the first few weeks...it's because of him that I want to be the guardian of the village. I want to protect everyone like he does. I told him all that, but I think he didn't like it not even back then" Ananas had calmed down, taking a more conversational tone "I don't know why, but he started treating me different...I miss the old Cohen..."

Syphus chewed on his thumb, thinking what to say. That did sound like Cohen, from what he knew, but it also was kind of hard to think of the actual Cohen as someone who had been treating Ananas in a friendly manner. "It's not two different Cohens. It's the same one, he hasn't left"

"What do you mean it's the same one? Cohen is a jerk now! Wait, then Cohen was always a jerk?"

"Yes, but that's not the point. Look, I'm sure Cohen truly cares about you, and about everyone else"

Ananas pushed her hat so hard into her head it almost burst through the seams. "Then why's he trying to drive me away? If he cared he wouldn't do that, all he cares is about being the guardian and—" suddenly, as if she had an epiphany, Ananas shut up, letting go of her hat in shock "...I get it...I think I get it now"

"What? What do you think now?"

"I'm not sure, but I think...I think I understand something" the girl stood up, gesturing Syphus to stand up too "Come on, we have to find him"

"What? Now?"

"Yeah, now! I'm not scared anymore. Come on, he must be around here somewhere!" her eyes were shining with renewed vigor. Syphus wasn't sure yet what epiphany she had reached, but whatever it was had definitely helped.

 **You feel like you were able to support Ananas.**

 **You feel like you understand Cohen a bit better.**

 **Your bond with Ananas isn't ready to get stronger yet.**

 **Your bond with Cohen will get stronger soon.**

-ooooo-

None of the cabins had Cohen in them, not even the one that belonged to him. In all the cabins there had been no more than a Maya, all of them shining with the same strange pinkish color. All of the Mayas also had different masks on them, so they were all different variations, but none of the Mayas stayed still for long enough for Syphus to analyze them. After the fifth Ananas noticed that the Mayas were crawling in direction of the sentry station, flailing their slimy arms all the way. "...of course Cohen would be there" Syphus said, trying to look towards the hole on the rock wall. If Cohen saw his guardian status as an important part of herself...then no wonder his Shadow and him would be there. "Are you ready, Annie?"

"I'm ready" she made sure the safety of her gun was off. The two of them slowly descended the slope towards the sentry station in the wall, trying to look through the darkness and distinguish anything. There was something amidst the dim illumination, but it was rather hard to see what it was. It seemed like a group of something. _Shadows?_ Most likely. When they got closer the group could be seen better. The six Mayas they had found inside the cabins were gathered there, surrounding a taller form...Cohen. "Hey! We found him!"

"Wait –Annie, wait!" Syphus tried to stop Ananas, but she rushed forward. Cohen looked like normal, his eyes hinted this was the real one and not his Shadow Self. When he turned around he didn't look happy, though. As soon as he saw them, he raised his fists and got into defensive position, glaring at them.

"What do you want?" he growled gutturally, stepping forward. The hostile reception made Ananas stop, confused.

"W-We came to save you..."

"Step back, Annie" Syphus said. Thankfully, Ananas obeyed, getting to his side. For a moment Syphus looked at Cohen with attention, trying to judge what to do. What was going on...?

Cohen adjusted his worn gloves, staring at them with caution. "Save me? Save me from what?"

"What do you mean from what? From those!" Syphus pointed at the Mayas, who shook with fear behind Cohen. The old man's expression turned threatening.

"Leave them alone! You're not getting to them if I have anything to say about it!"

"But those are Shadows!" Ananas argued.

"Shut up with that nonsense! These are the people I swore I'd protect" Cohen turned his head around towards the Mayas "Stay behind me"

Ananas inched towards Syphus, baffled. "Uh, Syphus, why's he trying to defend the Shadows?"

"I don't know. Something must be going on" _Is he under mind control or something?_ If so, then it was very likely it was the Mayas' fault. Why else would he feel so compelled to protect them?

"Will we have to attack him?"

"Hopefully not!"

Cohen approached, hitting his fists together, the sound of the gloves squishing together putting the team on high alert. "You had the chance to go away. You'll regret staying here"

"Cohen, we—"

The old man didn't give any chance to say anything else. He moved rather quickly, approaching Syphus with surprising speed and threw a hook with his right hand, hitting Syphus in the jaw with such strength Syphus' head swiveled to a side, almost throwing him to the floor. Ananas gasped, astonished, chance Cohen used to focus on her. In a moment he gathered strength and hit Ananas right on the temple before adding a kick, pushing her back to the floor. "C-Cohen..." she tried to say, shielding her face with her hand.

"I told you two to go away!" he shouted, his ashen face contorting with rage. Whimpering for a second, Ananas stood up, shaking.

"I can't believe he punched me..."

Syphus threw his halberd away. Going away was not an option, and Cohen wasn't listening to any of them appeals. Subduing him seemed to be the only option available, and there was no way Syphus was going to try such thing with his halberd. "Something's wrong. We'll have to get him to stop fighting"

"You mean we're going to fight back?!"

"We will" _I'm very sorry, Cohen..._ Cohen, noticing the team was getting ready to attack him as well, stepped back, rooting his feet onto the ground to avoid being moved. "Analysis" The analysis was immediate. _Oh no..._ "Annie, be gentle! If we go too far he'll be severely hurt!" Without the outstanding increase in endurance and resilience their Personas gave them, the same that let them survive otherwise fatal hits, Cohen was at serious risk. We're going to hold back our punches all we can!

Bracing himself for whatever they may do, Cohen shot them a daring look. "Do your worst" he stated. Ananas, taking a shaking deep breath and trying to convince herself what she was going to do was for Cohen's well-being, made sure to leave her gun in the holster and raised her hand.

"Persona!" she summoned. Hippolyta came out of her chest without aiming the blade of the axe towards Cohen. For a moment Ananas hesitated, but she forced herself to continue. "Fire!" A tiny ball of fire, no bigger than a hand, emerged from the tip of Hippolyta's axe, crossing the air towards Cohen. The impact of the fire against his chest made him double over, but he didn't seem that surprised.

"Of course...of course you monsters would be using magic" he muttered hatefully. Ananas hesitated again, Hippolyta vanishing.

"Monsters? He's seeing us as monsters?"

"Seems so" Syphus browsed through his Personas, trying to find one with a harmless as possible attack. Wind, maybe? Wind spells? No, a more defensive stance may be useful. "This is for your own good!" Syphus claimed, summoning Kaiwan. It was a rather cumbersome Persona, given its weakness to physical attacks that proved to be highly inconvenient, but maybe... "Tetrakarn" Syphus murmured, the creepy star with a face flexing the tips of its arms, creating a barrier around Syphus. Cohen, having expected an attack, tried to shield himself with his arms, but since nothing happened he shouted with fury and tried to deliver a strong punch to Syphus' face again.

The barrier activated immediately. The moment Cohen came close to Syphus, the barrier shattered, his punch reflecting. Cohen's arm shook while he grunted from the impact, being thrown backwards. Just in case, Syphus raised the same barrier on Ananas while she prepared her Persona for more weakened fire spells. One after another, fireballs hit Cohen, slightly burning his clothes. With every one that hit him, the more he tried to attack, until the constant stress on him was too much to endure. Cohen shouted with rage and impotence towards his situation before falling on his knees and hands, aching and feeling like he had sunburns. Despite that, he didn't give up yet. Shaking, he stood up, glaring with such intensity at Ananas it was almost a miracle she didn't back down. Nervous, she grasped the protective ring Syphus had provided her of. She was aware she had the barrier Syphus had given her for 100% guaranteed protection, but having to face Cohen like that still made her nervous. Part of her was even hoping he'd turn around and attack Syphus instead.

"...this is my last stand...I'll make it count even if it's the last thing I do!" Cohen roared, gathering all his strength in his fist, all the force he had, and threw the punch. His fist activated the barrier immediately, reflecting the damage onto the old man. For a moment Cohen swayed, dazed, before falling to the floor, defeated but still conscious.

"Cohen!" Ananas hurried to lift Cohen's head, finding out he was awake. She had never felt so much relief in her short life "He's okay! We did it!"

"We got lucky" he murmured, sighing with relief too. Just in case, Syphus covered Ananas with the Tetrakarn spell once again before dismissing his Persona and approaching Cohen. Cohen tried to glare at him coldly but he was too exhausted to even do that, instead he looked at the Mayas cowering a fair distance away. He fell limp, defeated.

"...I'm sorry. I couldn't protect you" he scowled at Ananas "What are you doing? Kill me already. That's what you came to do"

"W-What?" Ananas shook her head.

"Take my SOUL. Fine, you earned it. Just – please leave them live"

"What are you talking about?!"

"You monsters need SOULs to shatter the Barrier. I'll give you mine, but please, at least let the rest have a long life before claiming theirs. That's all I want. Please...have mercy of them..." he pleaded, so softly Syphus had a hard time hearing it. Cohen was being sincere, that much Syphus was sure about. Ananas looked at Syphus, silently begging him to say something. Syphus stood over Cohen before extending a hand.

"Stand up. You're deluding yourself, those beings over there aren't us. Look at them!"

"What the hell...?" Cohen narrowed his eyes "Are you trying to mess with me even right now?"

"Cohen, we're not monsters. It's us, Syphus and Annie. Try to see us how we really are, not whatever you're imagining!"

"What nonsense are you..." Cohen trailed off, blinking repeatedly. After a moment his eyes widened in recognition – or at least that's what Syphus hoped such gesture was. It took several seconds for Cohen to say something "...what the hell? Why was I seeing you two as monsters? What about the rest—" he looked at where the Mayas were, recoiling "What are those things?!" The Mayas stared back, not making any noise.

"Why did you think those were us?"

"That's because I was seeing all of you! You were all asking me to help you" _Looks like he as under an illusion of some sort._ Was it the Mayas' fault? Cohen stood up, unsteady on his feet. "I was trying to protect everyone, but I failed"

"I don't think you were doing so badly..." Ananas said, but Cohen ignored her, a hand going towards the bandanna around his neck.

"It doesn't matter this was a trick or whatever, I was trying to protect you! I wasn't able to do such a simple thing! I can't believe I'm such a _failure_!" he closed his eyes, starting to sweat "I can't have failed! I can't...!"

"Cohen!" she tried to go forward, but Syphus stopped her. He recognized what was going on "What's happening?"

"His Shadow is possessing him" or at least that's what it seemed like. _But there's nothing here_! _What was his Shadow tied to?_ Suddenly, from the gloves Cohen was wearing, wisps of blackness and red particles started seeping out, enveloping Cohen. ... _damn it!_ Of course, his gloves. The very tool he used to fight for everyone in the village. The shock of failing to protect what he had perceived to be the humans must have left him emotionally vulnerable to his Shadow Self. Just like Frisk when he faced changes he didn't understand, Ananas when he saw the house of the monster she thought she had to overcome, and Alphys when facing the truths she didn't want to hear about, Cohen was now vulnerable. His feelings, the side of himself he kept suppressed, it was now emerging.

And it did. Cohen stopped grabbing his head, instead squaring his shoulders with determination, as if all the pain and discomfort from the earlier fight hadn't happened. He turned around, muttering loudly:

"Hmph...I think I know why I saw everyone in those things. They're weak. _Useless_. They need someone to protect them...just like the rest of you guys" Cohen slowly turned around, his golden eyes in plain sight "That's why I'm the guardian of the Hidden Village: because I'm the only one who is remotely capable of taking care of that bunch of cowards. If it weren't for me, everyone would be _dead_ "

"...Annie, you know what we have to do" Syphus said, grabbing his halberd from the floor. What was Cohen hiding? Even if they didn't want to find out, now they were going to hear it all.

* * *

 **SOCIAL LINKS:**

 **Fool - Frisk - RANK 4**

 **Magician - Burgerpants - RANK 2**

 **Priestess - Alphys - RANK 4**

 **Empress - Toriel - RANK 2**

 **Emperor - Cohen - RANK 3**

 **Hierophant - Ciruel - RANK 2**

 **Lovers - ? - RANK 0**

 **Chariot - Ananas - RANK 5**

 **Justice - Undyne - RANK 3**

 **Hermit - ? - RANK 0**

 **Fortune - ? - RANK 0**

 **Strength - ? - RANK 0**

 **Hanged Man - ? - RANK 0**

 **Death - Cornio - RANK 2**

 **Temperance - ? - RANK 0**

 **Devil - ? - RANK 0**

 **Tower - ? - RANK 0**

 **Star - Lucia - RANK 2**

 **Moon - ? - RANK 0**

 **Sun - Papyrus - RANK 3**

 **Judgment - Team - RANK 1**

 **Aeon - Syphus - RANK 2**

 **Jester - Alphonse - RANK 2**


	24. Emperor Arcana

**"The Emperor is the card of authority figures and order, and it also has another meaning: changes in your life. But, just as many other influences, indulging excessively in the fortitude this arcana represents can lead to being insecure, putting emotions ahead of rational decisions, and using other people for your own personal gain"**

 **"...is that just a coincidence?"**

 **"Did that strike too close to home?"**

 **"It fits a bit too well with what we have been doing"**

 **"I don't think we got to that point yet. Don't worry. I trust you know what you're doing"**

 **"...I don't"**

 **"...hm...you know you have my support, right? If you ever need to talk about it, you can tell me, Azzy. I'll support you"**

 **"Thanks. Thank you, I really needed to hear that"**

* * *

Shadow Cohen looked at the team with contempt, as if they were no more than a nuisance that chose a bad time to appear. Cohen was never the type of person to regard others with warmth or affection, but he had never showed so much disdain towards someone as his Shadow was doing now. Syphus simply glared back, but Ananas, having known Cohen for longer, was cowed. She refused to draw out her gun, staring at Shadow Cohen's feet instead of his eyes. "...what do you mean?" she inquired mutedly.

"Let's face it, the only reason why you're all alive is because of _me_. And that's obvious! Who else other than _me_ would be able to fight and defy any monsters that'd try to take our SOULs?"

"But I can fight too!"

Shadow Cohen looked at her with amusement. "What do you know, you little pest? If you know what's good for you, you'll stay away from me – from everyone" he crossed his arms "Why did you have to arrive...everything was okay before you fell into the Underground"

"What?"

"I'm the guardian. I'm the one in charge of the village. What you lot have to do is _shut up_ and let me call the shots"

"I don't understand..."

"Don't listen to him" Syphus tried to remind her, but Ananas didn't pay attention to Syphus. She knew she shouldn't listen to what Shadow Cohen was saying, but there was something morbidly alluring about it all. She closed her eyes.

"But _you_ had to appear in our lives" Shadow Cohen stepped towards Ananas slowly, glaring at her with loathing "You had to defy me. You really think you have what's needed to be the guardian? Don't make me _laugh_ , you _moron_ "

Ananas shook her head. "I didn't mean to defy—"

"You're no more than a foolish, prideful brat who thinks you deserve more than what you already have. Isn't it enough to be safe under my wings? Just stay with everybody else and don't get too big for your britches"

"I want to protect everyone. Is that really so bad...?"

Something about what Ananas said seemed to amuse Shadow Cohen. He laughed, lowering his voice. " _You_? What'd you be able to do for us?"

"That's enough!" Syphus shouted. Shadow Cohen ignored him, still talking to Ananas.

"Ah, look at that, someone has to jump in your defense! If you can't defend yourself against mere words then how do you expect to defend anyone?" That made Syphus shut up. He groaned, refraining from saying anything else, for Ananas' sake. The girl silently implored Syphus to leave this up to her. Not having anyone defying him, Shadow Cohen continued. "I'm not going to step aside so you can take the throne from me. Listen very well what I'm going to say:

Stay away from the position...and you won't get into more trouble than you already are"

 _That position is something_ you _created!_ Cohen was ridiculously protective of something that hadn't existed until he had made up the role. Syphus had to literally bite his tongue to avoid saying something, instead settling with staring daggers at Shadow Cohen. He really hoped Ananas had enough fortitude to face the man who had tried so hard and so often to discourage her, even if it meant hurting her feelings.

For a moment Ananas kept her eyes closed, rubbing them hard with her hands to try to keep tears inside. This was the right moment; she couldn't just step aside any longer. Either she faced Cohen right now, or she never would. After taking a deep breath, she swallowed, slowly taking her gun out of the holster, her fingers playing with the safety of the revolver.

"...no."

"What?" Shadow Cohen spat.

"I won't go away. I had enough of you, old man...I'm not going to listen to you anymore"

"Do you know what you're doing—?"

"I'm not going to give up just because you tell me to do it!" she glared at Shadow Cohen "Now leave Cohen alone! I'll defeat you first, and then I'll show Cohen I'll do a good job!"

For a moment Shadow Cohen said nothing, looking at her coldly. Without saying a word, he extended a hand to the air, smoke gathering there until a shape formed: a sword. It was a bright and sharp-looking orange sword, as tall as Cohen. Syphus and Ananas watched the sword, in case he tried to attack them with it. "...if you say so, Annie...it's too bad, though. You could have stayed well-protected and trusting me to deal with the danger. You'd have nothing to worry about, just like the rest" he turned his face towards Syphus "And you...you're on the same side than her, aren't you? Don't lie, I know you are"

"What if I am?" Syphus snarled, defiant. Shadow Cohen ignored the question, instead testing the sword's movements.

"You'll both see now...you'll see what happens to fools like you two. If you're not going to accept to be under my heel _for your own good_...

...then you're both useless to me"

Ananas put a finger on the trigger of her gun. "What's that supposed to mean?!"

"I'll kill you both now. What else could it mean?"

The sword started extending over Shadow Cohen's hand, like molten metal covering him. In matter of seconds, the orange fluid had covered him, compressing him more and more until he was just a faceless human-shaped blob, smaller than Ananas. The team could only stare, waiting for Shadow Cohen to make a move. Suddenly, a large vertical eye opened in the center of the being's head, staring at them unforgivingly. Their foe started trembling, noises like metal scrapping together echoing from him, until something ripped out from his back. A large piece of metal, like a wing, extended outwards, much bigger than Shadow Cohen.

The same process repeated several times in matter of seconds until Shadow Cohen had six large metallic wings, with pulsing orange veins connecting them to the tiny body. "That's Cohen's true nature?" Ananas gasped.

"More like a twisted version of him" _That's the guardian. Of course it'd be an angel._

Shadow Cohen twitched his wings until they enveloped him, forming a ball for a moment. The junctures shone with a bright orange light, but the Shadow removed the protective cover it had made, swinging the sword. "You'll regret rejecting my help!"

"Syphus, what's the plan?" Ananas whispered.

"I don't know, but it can't be as simple as hitting him. Let's see how this goes" Queen Mab emerged from Syphus while he analyzed the foes. Lucia's voice not only picked up the one they had to fight, she also analyzed the Mayas behind him, for some reason.

 **Shadow Cohen, Emperor Arcana. No information available.**

After that, the voice listed every Maya's name and arcana. Hierophant, Chariot, Temperance, Fortune, Strength, Hermit...all with the same sentence:

 **Extremely weak. One hit and it's gone.**

It was rather depressing that those weaklings were how Cohen's SOUL had represented them.

Ananas immediately increased her attack and went ahead, Hippolyta's axe shining bright. Shadow Cohen didn't move, instead taking the blow stoically. Although apparently he did take damage, he didn't react, instead raising his sword high. "You'll see..." he muttered, sparks gathering on the tip of the sword. _Electricity again?_ At least now Syphus was better prepared. Before Shadow Cohen could strike, Queen Mab levitated in front of Ananas, extending her arms and catching the spell the Shadow casted.

"I'll cover you, you hit him as much as you can!" Syphus instructed. Ananas didn't reply, instead using her increased attack to shoot at Shadow Cohen while her Persona used fire. Shadow Cohen still made no move to defend himself, simply staring at the Personas.

"You two are being extremely foolish. I thought you'd stop after a few hits...but looks like you're serious about this" he drawled as if he wasn't being slammed by a giant axe.

"We're not leaving!" Ananas yelled. Shadow Cohen made a strange rumbling noise, almost like a laugh.

"Okay. This'll be your funeral" Shadow Cohen's wings started contracting until they once again formed a ball around him. Unlike last time, he didn't undo it immediately. Instead, the wings compacted against each other, although there were fissures and holes between them, it was unlikely they could manage to hit the Shadow's small orange form inside. On the outside, on each wing, there was a round gem, each one of a different color: light blue, green, purple, yellow, red and blue.

"Let us start" the ball started vibrating, a strange buzzing sound emanating from it. Ananas simply frowned, not affected by it, but Syphus doubled over, his Persona vanishing. He felt dizzy for a moment, but the crackling coming from the ball got his attention. There was no doubt Shadow Cohen was once again trying to use an electricity spell. Just like before, Syphus positioned Queen Mab over Ananas to protect her. The lightning bolt struck the Persona, Syphus immediately falling to the floor due to the shock. _What the...I should have nullified that_! Shadow Cohen had gotten rid of his immunity to electricity! Changing to another Persona immune to such attacks would only mean their foe would nullify it again, it'd be a waste of time.

"What're we going to do with those over there?" Ananas inquired, trying to carve through Shadow Cohen's shield. Near the sentry station, the Mayas were waving their hands ineffectively.

"I don't know" Syphus said "Those aren't doing nothing, let's leave them be" They had bigger fish to fry. Shadow Cohen was surrounded by a red glow "His defense has increased! I'll help you!"

It wasn't easy to try to get a hold of Shadow Cohen. The halberd and Hippolyta's axe could only do scratches, and Ananas' bullets kept bouncing from it. There was more luck through the use of spells, at least. "Move!" Syphus yelled at Ananas, the girl jumped to a side right before Shadow Cohen slammed against the wall with the strength of a wrecking ball. Rocks fell from the ceiling, tinkling on the metallic surface of the Shadow. Without even a second of wait, the ball spun in the other direction, striking Syphus' Persona.

"I got him!" balls of fire hit Shadow Cohen, sizzling and burning the wings. Slowly, the metallic shell uncurled, the orange being inside swinging his sword towards Ananas, hitting her right in the chest and using his wings to block Syphus from hitting his back with his halberd's spearpoint. Syphus tried over and over, thrusting the spike through any holes he could see, but since Shadow Cohen had six wings he wasn't able to hit not even once.

The bullets struck Shadow Cohen's tiny body, pushing him back and forcing him to attack from the distance, making a wide sweep with the sword and forming an arch of energy towards Ananas, the barrier from her ring activating and making it bounce towards the Shadow "You little brat...!" Shadow Cohen grumbled, pushing Syphus back with a swing of the sword and aiming with the tips of the wings towards Ananas. In a moment, six bolts of electricity completely wrecked the space around Ananas. She screamed in pain, dropping her gun, moment Shadow Cohen used to bolt forward and slam Ananas' head with the sword.

"Annie!" Syphus only heard the sounds of what happened, but it sounded like Ananas fell unconscious, if not something worse. Choosing to retreat for a moment, Syphus got to the more open space, circling around Shadow Cohen and making the Mayas scatter. Ananas wasn't too far away, lying on the rocks with her cowboy hat not too far away from her. Syphus grabbed Ananas' unconscious form, pulling from her before Shadow Cohen could bludgeon him with the sword. The onslaught was brutal, the Shadow moving the sword with expertise, hitting him several times in quick succession. There had to be something Syphus could do to wake Ananas up, he wasn't going to last for long alone against the Shadow. _Wait, that's it!_ He took out the small box of beads Papyrus had bought from Mettaton's shopping show. Hoping it'd work, Syphus took one out, he had only gotten it close to Ananas' face when she woke up. _That's effective!_ She even was strong enough to get out of his grasp immediately, her hand immediately going to the empty holster on her thigh.

"My gun!" she gasped, seeing it on the other side of the place and hurrying towards it right in front of Shadow Cohen. The foe tried to stop her, but Syphus threw a rock at him, distracting him long enough for him to take the halberd and hit him with the blade. That gave Ananas enough time to pick up her gun and hat, huffing from the effort. She managed to shoot Shadow Cohen a few times before he once again formed his shell, shielding himself from the physical attacks and again increasing his defense. "This is taking too long!"

"Keep using fire!" Better that than hitting with the halberd over and over, at least. While Shadow Cohen turned all his attention towards Ananas, once again trying to crush her against the floor, Syphus healed her and tried to assess the situation. The shield was too much of an advantage, and breaking it didn't seem like an option. "There must be a way to bypass it..." he mumbled before Shadow Cohen turned his sights on him, the ball dropping to the ground and rolling towards him. His immediate action was to raise his halberd and try to block the incoming attack. All he achieved was to get run over, thankfully the halberd taking most of the strength of the attack.

"Are you okay?!" he heard Ananas.

"...I think I am okay"

"He's going towards you again!"

Syphus rolled to a side almost automatically, just in time to avoid Shadow Cohen. When the enemy stopped, it levitated over the ground again, turning towards the team with a malicious twinkle in its eye. "You two are hopeless" neither Ananas nor Syphus replied to that, trying to think of a way to counter whatever it could do next. That shell was very resistant, breaking it wasn't going to work... _What are those for?_ The colorful gems around Cohen's outline, it seemed like they were simply decoration, but what if...

"Shoot the gems!"

"Uh, alright!" Ananas wasn't sure how that was going to help but she raised her gun, aiming at any of those gems. The bullet hit it right in the center but nothing happened, not even a crack "Nothing's happening!"

"Keep trying!" But after a while it was obvious that was useless, shooting them didn't help at all. Those gems were as resistant as the shield, that much was obvious after a few bullets more. Syphus went back, healing Ananas again, when his foot stepped on something slimy – one of the Mayas. The Maya scurried away, whimpering and without even trying to attack. "That's it!" That had to be it! Six gems, six Mayas...there had to be a reason why they were still around. "We have to get rid of those Shadows!"

Ananas looked at the cowering Mayas for a moment. "I'll do it if you keep Cohen busy!"

"Go!" Syphus changed to Rakshasa, fighting Shadow Cohen with something resistant to physical attacks seemed like a good way to keep him busy while Ananas dealt with all the Mayas. The Persona slammed its sharp swords on the shell a few times before kicking it away, hitting the wall. Ananas shook her head and focused on her task, trying to ignore the sound of metal against metal and the slam of Shadow Cohen's shell against the rocks. Ananas stood in front of the group of Mayas.

"Alright, pardners, it's high noon for you" she muttered, Hippolyta rising the axe high and slamming the blade into the ground. The Maya she had been aiming for moved astoundingly fast, a trail of ink left on the floor "Come on...!" Hippolyta tried over and over to hit any of the Shadows, but missed every time. To heighten her chances, Ananas used her gun as well, firing carefully where she judged the Mayas would go next.

"Get _down_!"

She didn't even reply, instead throwing herself to the floor just in time to dodge the blast of electricity that crossed the air right where her back had been a moment ago. Did that mean they were on the right path, that getting rid of the Mayas would be of help? "Leave her alone!" she heard Syphus' voice, followed by a screeching metallic noise like nails on a chalkboard, and Syphus yelping with pain. He kept trying his best to keep Shadow Cohen busy and, thankfully, there were no more attacks towards Ananas.

It took an excessive amount of time – several minutes – to finally land a hit on one of the Mayas. The one with the green mask was hit with a ball of fire, dissolving immediately. "Yes!" The effects were noticeable immediately. Syphus was about to try to pry open Shadow Cohen's shell with his halberd when suddenly the Shadow started trembling and burst open, Shadow Cohen falling to the floor. One of his wings shook and started recoiling until it was unusable, he seemed to be having a lot of trouble even getting back into the air.

 _It's my chance!_ Syphus didn't waste any time in taking advantage of Shadow Cohen's momentary weakness, directing Rakshasa to pummel Shadow Cohen with its swords. The foe wasn't able to get up for just enough time for Syphus to suffer a lot of damage. The moment it managed to get off the ground and try to hurt Syphus with its weapon, Rakshasa got in middle and deflected the blow, forcing the Shadow to hit himself. "I won't let you walk all over me!" Shadow Cohen grumbled before taking shelter into his shell once again.

"Here he goes again...Annie, it's working! Do it again!" Despite the damaged wing, it seemed Syphus still wouldn't be able to get through it, getting rid of more wings was necessary. Ananas tried again, but the death of one of the Mayas had gotten the rest rather fired up, sliding around with a lot more speed than before. Sometimes one of them came and hit Ananas. It was more annoying than painful, like getting slapped by a wet fish.

"I can't hit them!" Ananas notified after several failed hits with her Persona and her gun.

"Do something! I don't know how long I'll last here!" Syphus used Rakshasa to drive Shadow Cohen to the ground, trying to hold it down.

"They're too fast!" she couldn't even stop them from moving. She ran after them, not even getting close to catching them. One of them approached to hit Ananas again, managing to slap her in the back, only to die when the ring activated and reflected the meager attack. Two done, four left...with the bad luck that none of the Mayas dared to approach Ananas anymore. There was nothing else she could do. "I'm missing all my attacks!"

"You—you'll have to—think of something" Syphus said, huffing, while he cleaved Shadow Cohen's exposed orange body.

"But I..." there was no sense in arguing. Ananas stepped to the edge of the room, dispelling Hippolyta, and analyzed the situation. The Mayas kept dodging her attacks no matter what. They weren't that smart, but they were aware enough to dodge incoming attacks. Just to test the waters, she aimed at one of the Mayas, firing one single bullet. The Maya dodged it immediately and with ease, as expected, but Ananas was paying attention to what the others were doing. The rest of the Mayas seemed to get...relaxed. Careless, like they felt safe they weren't targeted. "If only I could do something with that..."

"He's recovering!"

"I'm thinking!" She had an idea, but the problem was that she just didn't seem to have the way to fulfill her plan. She had fire magic, but she could only attack one target at a time. If she could do more than that...it was worth a try. "Hippolyta" she summoned and turned towards where Syphus was trying to hold Shadow Cohen at a distance.

Looking forward while trying to keep tabs with what was happening behind her was difficult, and even more when she didn't feel confident she'd be able to do what she wanted to do. It was going to be the first time she'd try something like this; it wasn't like she could practice right now. She raised her gun, feigning to be aiming at Shadow Cohen, while the Mayas all gathered together, watching her with apprehension. Ananas felt a bead of sweat on her forehead while she focused, trying to envision what she wanted. Above her, Hippolyta gathered fire inside her axe. "I must do it...I need to do it..." looking at Cohen's own flaws and desires, the detestable creature that was Cohen's hidden side, it made her furious. Slowly, her doubts turned into anger, she grasped the handle of her gun until her knuckles turned white, the fire inside Hippolyta's axe increased in intensity. "I'll do it...because I won't let him stop me!" she didn't notice she had shouted that until Syphus and Shadow Cohen turned towards her, surprised.

Shadow Cohen floated back, the wings forming his shell contracting a bit, and Syphus mumbled a 'what are you...?' before Ananas turned around, mentally commanding his Persona to unleash the accumulated fire, hoping it'd work like she wanted it. Hippolyta, in one swift move, extended her arms and held the axe forward, spinning around and tracing a large arc in the air.

It worked. From the core of the four Mayas left a fire erupted, tearing them apart. She had done it, she had managed to attack more than one enemy simultaneously, and not only one, but _four_! The Maragi spell worked, all the enemies were soundly defeated, vanishing in puffs of ash and smoke.

Just like expected, that was enough to weaken Shadow Cohen greatly. Shadow Cohen stood completely still. "No, no, _no_!" he shouted while the entirety of the shell curled and was left unusable and rusty. Syphus waited to see what'd happen, expecting some kind of trump card or something, when the shell opened, the orange body of Shadow Cohen falling to the ground again, still grasping his sword.

"Did we do it?" Ananas asked, approaching.

"I think we did...no, step back" the piece said. While Shadow Cohen was greatly weakened, he hadn't given up yet. Just in case, Syphus renewed the physical attacks barrier on Ananas and stayed back to avoid Shadow Cohen's sword. The enemy had gotten on his feet, the wings hanging from his back like shed skin, weighing him down. He walked with difficulty, swinging the sword wildly.

"I'm...I'm the guardian...and I won't let two morons like you...look down on me!" he targeted Ananas, who glared at him without fear. The sword clashed against the barrier, making him fall to the floor. Exhausted, Shadow Cohen fell to the floor, not knocked out yet, but he was clearly on the brink of fainting.

Syphus put the halberd away. "Want to do it, Annie? It's your chance"

Ananas nodded, summoning Hippolyta. "...I'm very sorry, old man, but it'll be _my_ turn now" she pointed forward "Take him away!" she yelled, while Hippolyta spun on her place a couple times, swinging the axe with a lot of speed, until it hit Shadow Cohen as if he was a golf ball. The Shadow flew through the air and hit the sentry station with such force most of the wall crumbled away, falling on it. While Hippolyta vanished, Ananas sat on the ground, exhausted. "Did we win? Did we?"

"We did"

The rocks moved, Shadow Cohen emerging from among them. Once he was completely out of it, he slowly curled his wings around him again, but instead of starting to levitate and try to kill them, he stayed still for a few seconds before opening again, and this time Cohen fell from inside. "Cohen!" Syphus hurried towards him, taking him away from the Shadow. Ananas, not tearing her eyes away from Shadow Cohen, approached as well.

"Is he okay? We didn't hurt him, right?"

Syphus nodded, quickly making sure the old man didn't have any injuries. "He's okay. He's just tired" Cohen was trying to stand up, muttering something along the lines of 'what the hell's going on', until he managed to be by himself. Once he did, he dusted off his clothes and looked at Syphus and Ananas.

"Will someone tell me what just happened?"

Ananas looked helplessly at Syphus, who shrugged. "Uh, we'll tell you later?"

"Or maybe we could try to give him the condensed version...I had hoped Alphys would get a Persona, and given what happened with that Shadow in the storage and all I think we really need a new party member"

"Wait, you want to get Cohen to join us?"

"...trust me, I'm not a fan of this idea, but what else can we do? We're kind of in a bind here!"

Cohen looked worriedly at the creature behind him, getting further away from it. "What are you two mumbling? Tell me already what's up with that!"

 _Okay, think quick_. "I'll explain in detail later, but for now this is what you must know. That..." Syphus pointed at Shadow Cohen "...that's part of your personality, the, uh, side you hide from the rest of us? And Annie and I beat the crap out of it to save you"

"You did what?!" Cohen shook his head, confused "What do you mean that thing is part of me? That doesn't look anything like me!"

"It's complicated"

"He said a lot of things about you being the guardian. You really don't remember...?" Ananas said.

Cohen was silent for a moment before nodding slowly. "I...I kind of do. Damn it, I said so much stuff to you two..."

"If that's how you really feel—"

"I can explain" Cohen took a deep breath. After a moment he started talking "You already know I don't want you to be the guardian. I have told you many times you're not fit for that, and that I'm the only person around who can be the guardian. That's something I fully believe. There's another reason, though. I..." he paused.

"What do you mean?" Ananas pressed on, hanging onto every word Cohen was saying. Cohen made a reluctant expression and continued:

"...I have been in the Underground since I was a tyke like you. I was okay for like eight years, until I was sixteen. Celia tried to get out of the village. I don't know what happened, but she...I found her near the stairs. She had fallen from the plateau. She has been in that wheelchair since that day. I don't know what happened, but I have the feeling she was running away from a monster. What else could have happened? That day I promised myself I wouldn't let something like that happen again.

...but...I guess at some point my feelings changed" Cohen examined his Shadow all over. That thing was part of him? It almost hurt to think it was "I have been doing the same thing for more than sixty years, Annie. At first I was pretty good at stopping people from going out, from encountering monsters. But at some point I just...stopped doing that. I let everyone do whatever they wanted, and despite that I kept thinking I was doing some sort of big effort"

Cohen wasn't wrong. Despite his many threats and all, he hadn't really tried to stop Ciruel or Ananas or him from going out. The only thing he had done was bother Ananas to the point of making her cry, and make Ciruel dislike him. Syphus continued listening respectfully. "I guess it's because this is the only thing I have done during my entire life" Cohen looked at Ananas "Then you arrived. You came, and started talking about being the guardian.

...you, Syphus and everyone else are what makes me matter. Without the guardian position and you all as the people I need to protect, there'll be nothing left" Cohen grimaced and continued, pushing out the next few words with some difficulty. "I'm sorry, Annie, I'm very sorry for everything. You didn't deserve to be the target of my hate. That's just me being stupid"

For a moment the girl said nothing. She looked down, hiding her face with her hat. Syphus simply watched, not daring to meddle. "I'm not going to let you be nothing" Ananas finally said "I won't stop trying to be the guardian no matter what. You know what that means? It'll be my turn of help everyone...you included. Even if I'm not the guardian right now I'll help you"

"Are you sure about that?"

"I'm not lying, I'll help you! That's why I'm here, because I wanted to help!"

Cohen smiled weakly, touched. "...you're a good person, Annie. I hope you never lose your drive to help others"

"I won't, I—"

Shadow Cohen started rising to his feet, interrupting Ananas. The orange being shambled towards Cohen, dragging his wings behind and saying something incomprehensible. Cohen cracked his knuckles, staring at his Shadow. "Syphus, you said that thing is part of me?"

"Pretty much, yeah" Syphus answered.

"...freaking pathetic..." disgust and frustration bubbled inside Cohen. That thing had showed thoughts he had kept deep inside him for years, represented everything that was wrong with him, and to make it even worse, attacked two of the people he had sworn to protect! If that strange being was part of him then he had to do something about it "I'm not going to let my own ego hurt other people again. I will change so I'll never have something like you in my head _ever again_!" Cohen swung his fist, punching Shadow Cohen right in the middle of its eye. Shadow Cohen was pushed back, and for a moment nothing happened, just Cohen rubbing his knuckles and wincing.

Then the Shadow was enveloped in a bright blue light. It shone strongly, like a beacon, and Cohen watched, enraptured. The wings of the Shadow retracted, covering the body, and the body itself started getting larger. Soon the change was complete, and everyone could see Cohen's Persona.

 **Cohen has taken the decision to break his self-imposed chains and reach his true potential. The strength of his heart has bestowed him the Persona Ajax**

If Ananas' Persona was a warrior focused on offense, then Cohen's Persona was more focused on defense. It held a sword, but its main element was the heavy armor covering its body, gray and golden like the figure of virtue Cohen had imagined himself to be. Sturdy plates covered its back and arms, it didn't seem like the Persona would be able to form a shell, but it did look like it could have impenetrable defense if positioned correctly. A vertical eye decorated its visor, looking stonily at the man the Persona represented. There even was a mane of thick black hair coming from the Persona's head.

"That's a part of me?" Cohen looked at it with a bit of pride. Ajax was much more flattering than a weird thing that threatened to crush other people. Ajax returned to the person it came from, leaving Cohen to try to understand what just had happened. "...I got one of those things now. I remember you two have them too"

"It's a Persona. It's like the strength of your heart" Syphus tried to explain.

"Really? Huh" Cohen nodded after a moment and slouched over, tired "Alright, I don't really get it, but fine. So now what? How're we returning home?" Syphus got him to show the brooch he had attached to Cohen's clothes "That's the brooch you have on you all the time. So that's what you used to get wherever this is?"

"Yes. It's a long story, but for now let's just get out of here"

"I got the stuff!" Ananas had salvaged the materials dropped by Shadow Cohen, now they could leave. Ananas grabbed Syphus' shirt, letting him press on the brooch. The now familiar sensation of vanishing overcame them.

-ooooo-

Syphus heard the screams of terror right before he opened his eyes. There was something terrifying about hearing an old man like Cohen screaming like that, like he was being tortured. He sounded desperate, horrified, so much that Syphus scrambled to stand up, looking around to see what new and awful danger was nearby. For a moment he didn't know what to do, but when he saw there was nothing he hurried towards Cohen.

"What happened...?" Ananas was frozen on her spot, staring at Cohen with eyes wide open. Had something gone wrong? Alphys hadn't done that, why was Cohen screaming like that?

"Cohen, calm down, it's us. We're back. It's all okay" Syphus hurriedly tried to calm him down. Right when Cohen was starting to calm down, Graham, Ciruel and Byssa burst into the cabin.

"What's going on here? We heard screams and—" Byssa stopped when she saw Cohen "He woke up! Finally!"

"Wait, don't move him. He was unconscious for more than 24 hours. There may be something wrong with his head" Graham advised Syphus. The piece stepped back while Ciruel approached, crouching to the side of Cohen's bed.

"Okay, try to focus on my finger here" Ciruel moved his finger from side to side "Why were you yelling so much?"

Cohen followed the finger with his eyes, talking slowly. "I just woke up. I didn't expect to see someone in here, that's all" The lie didn't sound very convincing, but nobody tried to refute it.

The former scholar made a few other examinations before standing up, adjusting his glasses. "He seems to be okay. Who knows, his state of unconsciousness may have been because he's old" Cohen made a face of disapproval, and Graham came closer.

"It was because he's old? You sure about that?"

"He's old and he pulls all-nighters all the time. Frankly I'm surprised he didn't faint for so long before"

"Oh, shut up" Cohen mumbled, letting his head fall heavily on the pillow. Ciruel, annoyed, exhaled through his teeth and started leaving.

"Where are you going?" Ananas tried to get him back, but Ciruel ignored her, going towards his own cabin. A bit downtrodden at Ciruel's behavior, she returned to the rest of the group, everyone trying to talk with Cohen to make sure he was okay. Once it was clear the old man was okay despite his extended period of unconsciousness, Byssa and Graham left, although Graham promised to stay during the night to make sure he'd be okay. Once the team was alone, Cohen sighed, rubbing his eyes.

"Ciruel really doesn't like me, huh. Can't blame him, I have been pushing him away too"

"He'll get over it" Syphus said half-heartedly.

"Heheh...not unless I make some sort of effort to help him. Talk about a pain in the ass" Cohen sighed again "You two should go rest...I'm exhausted. I'd like to sleep"

Ananas brought him his quilt, passing it to him. It seemed she had been gathering courage to ask something, because once Syphus left to get some stuff from the communal building she lowered her voice. "Cohen, did you...before you got your Persona...did you see something weird? I dunno how to describe it, but..."

"I did" Cohen replied. There wasn't need for any further words. Ananas nodded and left, leaving Cohen alone with his thoughts.

-ooooo-

Alphonse examined the map of Alphys' Hotland laboratory. There had to be a trick, a way for the seemingly impossible situation to work...but how? "I don't get it..."

ASRIEL smiled kindly. "I think it's a clever trick"

"Maybe it is, but I just can't see it...tell me those truths again"

" **Alphys was the only one to be inside the elevator at all times**. **When Alphys opened the elevator, there was nobody inside"**

"So that means other than Alphys nobody entered the elevator?"

" **Yes** , that's what I mean"

Alphonse frowned. There had to be a trap somewhere. Remembering everything ASRIEL had said about witches' games and their intricacies, they smiled a bit. "What does 'entering the elevator' mean?"

"What?"

"I'm just asking for a definition. That's all"

The question seemed to get ASRIEL nervous, he looked away. "That means **nobody stepped on the floor of the elevator** "

There it was, a possible way to deal with this! Alphonse held back an exclamation of victory. "I see now, the attacker reached into the elevator where Alphys was. That's how she fell down! That way nobody but Alphys entered the elevator at all, it was enough to just reach inside and attack her!"

"That's not what happened. You're wrong" ASRIEL's shoulders dropped in relief " **Once Alphys was inside the elevator, nobody could have reached her.** Except Undyne, but that's after it was over"

"...I thought I was onto something..." Alphonse thought about it all for a bit longer. ASRIEL had mentioned the modified cellphone, Syphus' halberd, and Alphys' lab coat, but no matter how much Alphonse thought about it, they couldn't see how all that and Alphys' situation was all linked. The parts of the solution had been given to them already, why couldn't they link it all together? "I'll leave this one aside. Are you sure I don't need a map for Cohen's mystery?"

"You don't need one. He was in his sentry station when he was attacked. Nobody saw anything, and there was no trick"

Alphonse started folding the map over and over "I think after making Alphys fall down, the attacker went to the Hidden Village and did the same to Cohen. That'd mean everyone who was in places like New Home, Snowdin or the Ruins can't have done it...but I can't solve this if there's nothing to solve!"

"Wait, that means you..."

"Sorry, Azzy, I give up"

ASRIEL frowned. "My bad, I didn't mean to make it so difficult"

"That's not bad, if it's difficult then you need to think about it. It's just that I have never been good at solving puzzles"

ASRIEL tilted his head, his ears swinging a bit "It has been a while, and my memories are a bit jumbled right now, but I'm very sure I have never solved puzzles either"

"No? I thought you knew Papyrus" and anyone who knew Papyrus had to have solved a puzzle, at the very least. That was almost a universal constant.

"I know him, but that's back when I was..." ASRIEL looked away, he really didn't like to mention this "...when I was Flowey"

The silence that followed was rather tense. While Alphonse had no idea what the whole deal with Flowey had been, they did know it was a time ASRIEL preferred not to think about. "Sorry for mentioning it, Azzy"

"Since I started playing this game I have been thinking if this is the same than everything I did as Flowey. Lucia, Sisyphus and I are manipulating everyone in my world"

"But you don't even do that, everybody does what they want"

"It's because I'm trying to make the world around do what I want. I know it's for everyone's good, and Lucia says there's no other way, but I don't like it"

Alphonse looked at where Igor would be sitting otherwise. While most of the time he was there, for the moment he had left the Velvet Room, leaving ASRIEL and Alphonse to discuss the game. Although Alphonse had tried to talk about it with Igor, for some reason Igor had showed to be a bit dismissive about it. 'It'd be unbecoming of me to intervene in our guests' business'. Did that mean it really was all for the better? "We're relying on Lucia's opinion. If she's wrong or if she does know another way and isn't telling us—"

"You think Lucia is lying?"

"I don't know her as well as you do"

ASRIEL looked like he was going to say something, but he didn't. Alphonse was showing to be rather reticent to trust her. He wasn't used to seeing the person in front of him as distrustful, and something about that made him feel rather conflicted.

It took him a moment to remind himself Alphonse wasn't the same person he had known before in his world. Different timelines have different versions of people, after all.

"I don't know Lucia well either, but I think she's saying the truth. I want to believe in her" Even though she kept saying she wasn't a good person and that her intentions were less than noble. Someone who truly had ulterior motives to help him like this wouldn't be so upfront about not being honest, right?

"Okay, Azzy, I'll believe in her too" Alphonse yielded. Satisfied, ASRIEL stood up, said his farewells, activated the illusion brooch and left the Velvet Room. He stepped out, the cool atmosphere of the Hopeful Star receiving him. He closed the blue doors behind him and opened them immediately, the parlor of the manor receiving him. Sisyphus waved at him from his seat, putting the gameboard back on the table.

"About time, Cornio!" he said, smiling with friendliness. Cornio reciprocated, getting settled into his chair and leaning towards the board. So far everything was going more or less okay, leaving aside the unknown variant that was Sisyphus' piece siphoning its master's SOUL. It was likely things were going to be okay, as long as no nasty surprises arose anytime soon.

Four out of twelve dungeons had been completed so far. Surely the other eight would be no big deal, right?

-ooooo-

It was true there was no sunlight in the Underground, but Frisk knew it was early in the morning. They liked to imagine they'd be leaving Snowdin, walking towards the sunrise with a smile on their face. Today was the day, they weren't going to stay in Snowdin any longer if they could help it. There was a lot they needed to do.

Sans was staring at the readings of his machine, his grin present in his face like usual. The creases around Sans' eyes told Frisk the skeleton was very tired, though. "Are you going to stay there all day?"

"of course not, kiddo. i'm done" Sans made a strange noise, one Frisk interpreted as a yawn.

"You should sleep"

"i will, i will. trust me, there's going to be a lot of naps in my busy schedule today" Sans winked, turning off the machine. Frisk, stopped rummaging through all the snacks they had obtained for the trek through Waterfall, just in case they needed healing, and approached Sans.

"Did you see something?"

 _"If he had seen something unusual he'd have told you"_ Chara piped up.

Sans waved a hand. "nothing at all. it's as unstable as usual. whatever that guy's doing isn't changing anything"

"Maybe he needs a bit more of time"

"good for him he has infinite time" he said bitterly. All he wanted was for the timeline not to cycle, was that really that much to ask? He knew the odds of him being the one Sans residing in the one timeline that would exist without looping back were astronomically low, so he had absolutely no hopes about it. He was resigned from the beginning that he'd be locked in a timeline with a dead end. Syphus' efforts would lead nowhere. "you sure about what you'll do?"

"I can't wait any longer. Syphus will do his thing, but I want to see Asgore"

"you're a stubborn one, kid. you do your thing" Sans accompanied them outside. The roads of Snowdin were empty, Frisk wouldn't be interrupted at all. With some luck, they'd get through Waterfall without any problems. Frisk walked in direction of Waterfall, waving at Sans with enthusiasm. "good luck"

-ooooo-

Cohen was in much higher spirits the next day. Syphus had insisted to watch over the old man, mostly for the sake of having privacy with him. The less interruptions the better. Cohen, who accepted to let Ananas stay in the sentry station while he was in bed, was resting but awake. Syphus had brought him breakfast, Cohen ate while Syphus explained what was going on with the Shadows and the Personas. Judging by Cohen's face, he didn't fully understand the convoluted explanation, but accepted it nonetheless. "That's all a bunch of weird stuff for me, pure nonsense"

"The important part is that you have a Persona, that's not nonsense"

"I can say it's nonsense and accept it at the same time, you know" he chewed, thinking "I'm still embarrassed my Shadow said all that to you two, but you know what? Screw that noise. I'm going to man up and accept that yeah, most of what my Shadow said is what I really think"

Syphus crossed his arms, unsure where this was going. "I-I guess that's great. What are you trying to say?"

IMAGE

"I'm trying to say I'm the most pathetic person you'll ever meet. Look at me, I'm a guardian who does it just to protect my ego, what's more pathetic than that?"

"Props to you for admitting it, I guess...it's brave of you"

"It'll be braver if I try to fix that. I don't want to let go of my position yet, but I should at least change my behavior" the old man left his plates aside, mulling what Syphus said the Shadow had said "If everyone in this village were as weak as I think then they would be dead by now. Look at Ciruel, look at Annie, they get out all the time and nothing happens to them. I bet if Graham and Byssa tried to leave too nothing would happen to them"

"Ciruel must be really good at being unnoticed, if no monster knows about them"

"I know. But I think...I'm jealous of him and of Annie. They go out while I stay there, sitting and protecting the village from any monster that may come here. You know how many monsters have been here besides Toriel and that kid?" Cohen clenched his teeth for a moment "Zero. A big, fat zero. And there I stay, sitting there! Doing nothing!"

"Does that mean you—"

"Of course not, I like being the guardian! But sometimes I wish there was more to it than waiting for something that hasn't happened in all this time" Cohen was silent for a moment until he hit his fists together, nodding "Okay, I have taken a decision"

"What's it?"

"Take me out of here. I want to leave this village for the first time ever"

Syphus raised his eyebrows. "Wait, what?"

"I want to get out. Listen here, I have been in the same place for decades. Maybe if I get out of here at least once then my mind will expand. How about it? Lend me a hand here"

It wasn't a bad idea. If Cohen only knew this tiny piece of world in what was already a small world in the first place, then going out could be greatly beneficial for him. Nothing like new experiences to encourage a new way of thinking. "It's a deal. I'll help you with that"

"Thanks a lot. I'm counting on you, Syphus"

 **You feel Cohen's bravery.**

 **The Cohen Social Link has reached Rank 4!**

 **Your power to create Personas of the Emperor Arcana has grown!**

Cohen managed to sit on his bed, his bones creaking loudly. He made a face of slight discomfort before nodding, trying not to look at pained as he felt. "Alright, what's the first move?"

"Well, you got a Persona now, so...I guess Annie and I should give you the choice. Or more like The Choice, with capital letters. Do you feel strong enough to walk now?"

"You bet. But how are we going to walk outside without monsters noticing we're humans?"

"Don't worry about that, there are cloaks large enough for—"

" _Cloaks?_ " Cohen spat that word as if it was a grave insult "You're going to rely on cloaks to hide how we look? Seriously?"

"It has worked before, it'll work again!"

"No. I'm not down for that, we're not doing that" the old man went to the door of his cottage, looking outside "As much as I hate to admit this, we're going to ask Ciruel for help. I have seen he pretends to be some kind of deer or something. He'll make costumes for us"

It wasn't that bad of an idea, and chances are it'd work better than wearing a cloak, but Syphus wasn't sure about this. What'd Ciruel do to help them? Cohen wasn't taking a no for an answer, though. Before Syphus could tell Cohen to think this twice, Cohen had already reached Ciruel's cabin, knocking on the door. _Okay, it's worth a try._

-ooooo-

Burgerpants was cleaning the counter for the eleventh time that morning when the doors opened. He looked up, putting on his retailer attitude, but his smile wavered when he saw the small group that entered. "...you can't be serious" he said softly, managing to recover his composure when they started approaching.

He had never seen monsters like two of them, a child and an adult. What he didn't understand was why they'd have rocks glued on the old one's face, what seemed to be paint covering their skin, and who knew what else. The child even had glaringly fake mandibles, flat and made of cardboard. And the monster accompanying them—"It's that guy again. Should have guessed..." Syphus. Of course that weird guy would do something like this. The child looked happy, while the adult looked like he wished for the earth to open and bury him immediately. Syphus seemed amused.

The unknown adult monster approached. "...believe that guy just took a few rocks and called it a day"

"But it's working. Nobody has said anything about you-know-what" the child said, going towards one of the tables. Burgerpants got ready to take the order, deciding to ignore the strangeness of his clients. He had a job to do, after all.

The old monster examined the menu before focusing on the promotion. "This is interesting...hey, Syphus, you got enough money for that?"

"Are you sure? It's expensive, and I don't feel like burning money today"

"Just—just give it to me. I'm going to finish that thing"

"Fine" Syphus and Burgerpants exchanged an incredulous glance, but Syphus did give the gold.

Once Cohen was seated with the rectangular steak in front of him, he started chomping it down with gusto, having a grand time. "I can't believe monsters have this type of food! This is the best steak I ever had since I was a kid!"

"At prices like these I sure hope so" Syphus mumbled before trying to get to the matter at hand "Okay, Cohen, tell us about your Persona"

"Dumphoo washdere to say" he said with his mouth full before swallowing "I'm great with electricity, but looks like I'll break if I'm hit with ice. Its name is Ajax"

"Perfect, not the same than me. Sounds good" Annie nodded "Welcome to the team!"

"Syphus doesn't seem happy about that" he gestured at Syphus, who had been kind of scowling before Cohen noticed "What's wrong?"

"It's just that I'm not sure if we should take someone as...old _..."_ he felt a bit stupid bringing that up "...as you to join us. This is going to be dangerous and needs physical prowess"

Cohen raised his eyebrows "You let the eight-year-old join your team. How can you be worried about age?"

"She's _young,_ you're not"

"How old are you, Syphus? You look very old too" Ananas said.

"Old? I'm just forty-two!"

Ananas looked at him without expression for a second. "See? You _are_ old. Let him join too"

"You look rather young for someone who is more than forty. I thought you were in your twenties" Cohen dug into the steak, hiding his face of disapproval "You don't act like you're forty, too. Kinda immature..."

"It's a long story" Syphus wasn't sure exactly why he looked younger than his master was supposed to be. "Okay, fine. You understand this is going to be dangerous and that backing off later isn't an option, right?"

"I know. Look, Syphus, I made the decision hours ago. This is just a formality as far as I'm concerned" Something in his tone ticked Syphus off.

 _"I'm_ the one with the weird magical artifact that lets us explore SOULs" Syphus lowered his voice "Don't get cocky, old man"

"Oh, shut up" he ate a bit more of the steak in silence before sighing. Maybe both Syphus and him were letting their pride get to their heads, so he tried to take a more conciliatory tone "Look, I don't mean to muscle in. All I want is to help you two. I didn't see much of what happened, but I do know you two were in danger.

If there's something I can do, then I want to do it. Let me use this weird power to help you"

His voice sounded sincere, Syphus had no doubt Cohen meant it. Although Syphus still had some fears this may not go well, the endurance having a Persona granted during those expeditions meant Cohen wasn't going to be in that much physical danger. He simply had wanted Cohen to be completely sure about what he was getting into.

Besides, having someone else to lend a hand was a nice thought. He knew they needed more horsepower. Cohen's Persona was going to balance them, too. There simply was no conceivable reason to refuse! "Alright...what do you say, Annie?"

"I want Cohen to come with us" Ananas replied immediately.

"Then he will, I have no objections anymore. Welcome to the team, Cohen"

 **Cohen joined the team!**

 **The Barrier Breakers Social Link has reached Rank 2!**

 **Your power to create Personas of the Judgement Arcana has grown!**

Cohen extended a hand to shake Syphus' claws, nodding. "Glad to be on the team. Do we have a name?"

"We're the Barrier Breakers!" Ananas said with pride. Cohen raised one eyebrow.

"Really now. Were you the one who invented the name, Syphus? It sounds like something you'd say"

"Of course not! That was all Annie!"

"Sure it was" Cohen took another bite of the large steak "Thanks for bringing me here, guys, this thing is _great_!"

"I'd be surprised if you can eat it all. I couldn't do it"

"Really? This tiny thing?" he scoffed at what was left of the steak - more than half "Watch this, I'm almost done!" As if his reputation was in danger now, Cohen wolfed down the rest of the steak with ease, much to Syphus' astonishment and Ananas' curiosity. He was finished in matter of minutes. Cohen pushed the empty plate forward, smirking "Piece of cake"

"You have to be kidding me..."

Burgerpants' reaction was rather similar to Syphus', although he immediately cleared his throat and put his customer service smile on again. "I'm sorry for my momentary outburst, sir. Congratulations on winning the contest"

"What—what contest?" Cohen hadn't seen that part of the sign.

"If you finished the steak you'd win prizes. If you sign here you will receive them in less than a week" Burgerpants passed a document to Cohen, who skimmed the contents

"Right...I don't really have any interest in the prizes, so...I'll just give to any random monster"

Burgerpants chuckled, hiding his trepidation with some effort. "I'm afraid that's not an option, sir. If you don't want the prizes, then you may forfeit them"

"Then that's what I'll do"

The worker held back a sigh. The moment of finally ending that contest had been so close! But nope, the old monster just had to reject the prizes. Managing not to show his growing frustration, Burgerpants simply gave back to Syphus the cost of the steak.

"This was a good day, I actually enjoyed myself" Cohen commented while they were exiting the burger joint "Thanks for everything, you two"

Ananas separated from them to approach the doors near the reception, opening them to see inside. "What's in here, Syphus?"

"I don't know, but you shouldn't get in there" Syphus looked at Cohen "Take Annie with you back to the village, I'll be there in a moment" Cohen nodded, gently pushing Ananas out of the MTT Resort, much to Ananas' disappointment. Once they were gone, Syphus looked around and dared to enter. "Nobody's going to object if I take a look around" he said to himself, blinking to get used to the dim illumination inside.

It was a restaurant; one he didn't know very well. He did know that simply walking in and ordering stuff wasn't going to work – nor he had intentions to waste money like that – but the atmosphere inside was nice and fresh, a much welcome relief from the heat of Hotland. Syphus looked around with curiosity, walking around the tables. There weren't many clients right now, besides one monster who was busy licking a ficus, for some reason. There was also Sans, who was sitting on the stage and watching him around. Having noticed Syphus had seen him, Sans greeted with a gesture of his head, his grin broadening a bit. _Why's he here?_ Trying to ignore Sans and seeing a message board on one of the walls, Syphus approached to read the notices better.

While he read the postings, a couple monsters started talking nearby. Syphus looked for a moment at who it was, only seeing an avian monster with glasses. Syphus tried to ignore them, but it was hard to when they were talking right beside him.

"...in Snowdin?"

"Yes. I tried to convince him to come back. He doesn't want to listen to me. I'm a terrible fathah, ha ha ha..." the bird mumbled something Syphus couldn't distinguish.

"Poor kid, I feel bad for him"

"He was very close to the missus. I thought he'd want to spread her dust. But he refused. Too painful for him..."

Not wanting to hear anything else, Syphus walked away. Something about that snippet of conversation kept nagging at him, like he was forgetting something, something very important, but no matter how much he thought about it, he just couldn't remember or deduce what it was.

It felt like...something was missing from the Underground? But what was it? Why did it feel like it was something important?

Feeling uneasy, Syphus left the restaurant.

* * *

 **SOCIAL LINKS:**

 **Fool - Frisk - RANK 4**

 **Magician - Burgerpants - RANK 2**

 **Priestess - Alphys - RANK 4**

 **Empress - Toriel - RANK 2**

 **Emperor - Cohen - RANK 4**

 **Hierophant - Ciruel - RANK 2**

 **Lovers - ? - RANK 0**

 **Chariot - Ananas - RANK 5**

 **Justice - Undyne - RANK 3**

 **Hermit - ? - RANK 0**

 **Fortune - ? - RANK 0**

 **Strength - ? - RANK 0**

 **Hanged Man - ? - RANK 0**

 **Death - Cornio - RANK 2**

 **Temperance - ? - RANK 0**

 **Devil - ? - RANK 0**

 **Tower - ? - RANK 0**

 **Star - Lucia - RANK 2**

 **Moon - ? - RANK 0**

 **Sun - Papyrus - RANK 3**

 **Judgment - Team - RANK 2**

 **Aeon - Syphus - RANK 2**

 **Jester - Alphonse - RANK 2**


	25. The Royal Guard Headquarters at New Home

Cohen stared at the measuring tape Alphys was wrapping around his knuckles. The orange paint on him was starting to peel off. "I'd have never guessed you were a weapons dealer, doctor"

"N-No, I'm the Royal Scientist, but I thought I should h-help, since you g-guys helped me...and since I didn't get a Persona..."

"Why's that? Was your Shadow too tough?"

"No, Syphus and Annie defeated her, but I...I wasn't brave enough" she really didn't want to keep talking about that. This human had managed to do it, from what Annie had told her. Now Alphys was measuring his hands to be able to adjust the gloves and knuckles she had created. Syphus had also left the most recent piece for the barrier-shattering spear, as well as even more materials for more weapons to be made. All in all, Alphys had a lot of work to do.

Alphys glanced at the screen that was currently showing different parts of Waterfall. There was a human child with a striped sweater traversing that area of the Underground, she had been following them through the video feed, thanks to all the cameras installed throughout Waterfall. From time to time she'd take out her cellphone and tell Undyne about where the child was. Syphus had said the child would be okay, and Alphys really hoped he was right.

Her reaction when he had asked her to tell Undyne about that child's presence in the Underground had been of disbelief. Why'd he want that? The child would be in danger! But he had said it was necessary, that the child was expecting to meet Undyne, and that they should heed their wishes. "And one thing more, Alphys: they'll need help to pass through Hotland too. Do you think you can do something about that?"

"I-I'm not sure, I could think of something, but..." her mind had immediately gone to the charade she had organized with Mettaton. She wasn't willing to do that anymore, but maybe she could modify it so it wouldn't have as many lies and deceit as before? Instead of digging a deeper hole for herself she'd try to amend her mistakes, be honest with the child from the beginning. "Leave it to me" she had decided.

Ananas was sitting near the screen, watching that unknown kid walking through parts of Waterfall she didn't know. "Uh, Cohen, are we sure Syphus knows what he's doing?"

"To be honest I don't think he does. That guy's many things, but a clever strategist he's not" he scowled, putting on his leather gloves "Why'd you agree to go along with this, doctor?"

"It's what the ch-child wants"

"Then that child has a death wish. I have heard so many things about Undyne and none of them is good. We should get that kid to safety"

"No! A-And Undyne isn't so bad..."

Ananas gasped, approaching the screen. "Monster Kid is there too! He'll keep them safe"

"That kid?" Cohen made a skeptical face and turned away from the screen. It was unlikely one child would be able to protect anybody against someone like Undyne.

Time passed. Ananas had been partly right, just by being there, Monster Kid had saved the human child at least once. Cohen wasn't sure if he was doing it on purpose or not – well, it _had_ to be on purpose. Monster Kid knew about humans; it was impossible he wouldn't know that was a human. "Cohen, do you think they'd get a Persona?" Ananas asked, watching them.

"I doubt it. That's just some random kid, what'd they be able to do"

"Then what about someone in the village? Byssa could kick the Shadows while you punch them"

Cohen hid the face of displeasure he made. Byssa? As if. "Definitely not. And nobody else has any fighting skills. We'd have better luck trying to convince Undyne to join us"

Ananas scratched one of the false eyes she had glued to her face. "So it'll be just us three...she won't help us"

Alphys brought them some ramen for the wait. "I t-think Undyne would help you, if...if she knew what w-was going on"

"Even if we're humans?"

"I don't s-see why not. I know Undyne, she'd help"

The problem was that it'd need someone to attack her and make her fall down for there to be a chance for Undyne to get a Persona. "And nobody would be as stupid as to try to harm _Undyne_ " Cohen said to himself, sitting on the couch while Alphys looked for something to watch with them.

Ananas was about to say something else when she saw the child advancing towards where Undyne was waiting. It was almost time.

-ooooo-

Deep in thought, Syphus almost didn't see Undyne standing on top of a stone arch, only when he heard murmuring he looked upwards. Undyne was talking to herself, practicing a speech and making dramatic movements with a spear, clad in her heavy Royal Guard armor. "Undyne?" Undyne interrupted her practice, glaring at Syphus.

"What do you want? Keep going, there's nothing to see here"

If Undyne was waiting here, then that meant... _Frisk is coming_. He had to find Frisk before they confronted Undyne, he wanted to talk and make sure they'd be okay – and make a SAVE point, just in case. There was always a possibility Frisk would fail and die, and that was something Syphus wouldn't tolerate. Syphus was going to do anything to ensure everyone would survive in this final timeline.

 _...everyone? I'm forgetting something, what is it?_

There wasn't really much time to sit down and try to remember what it was. Undyne's location meant Frisk should be nearby. The path towards the rock arch was devoid of any bystanders, Syphus waded through the water, staying alert for anyone that may be approaching. He was walking slowly, trying to make as little noise as possible. Would Frisk change their mind if they saw him? Maybe. He wasn't going to risk that.

Just as expected, soon he heard the steps of someone approaching, splashing in the water. Syphus covered his mouth and dashed towards the wall, all caution thrown into the wind. Hoping the darkness near the walls would be enough to conceal his white feathers and shirt, Syphus curled in the water, keeping his eyes above the surface and holding his breath.

Frisk entered the passageway, continuing forward without suspecting anyone's presence. They passed in front of Syphus without noticing him, and turned around the corner. _Okay, it's time_ Syphus thought, standing up and ignoring the wet clothing sticking to his skin. Controlling his breathing and making sure to step on solid ground as much as possible, Syphus followed Frisk. There was something nerve-wracking about trying to be stealthy. Every step he took sounded like it reverberated in the cavern, his breathing sounded like a gale to him. He felt like in any moment he'd make some noise that'd make Frisk turn around.

They never did. After a few tense minutes, the rock arch was visible. Syphus extended his hands and made a SAVE point, just in case something went wrong. Frisk stopped, staring at the arch in the distance, and gathered their determination. "Everything will be okay" they were saying, stepping forward very slowly, keeping his head up, showing no fear.

Syphus observed how Frisk got in front of the rock arch and tried to pass through it, only to be stopped by Undyne, out of Syphus' sight. How after a speech Syphus barely heard she jumped to the ground, ready to fight Frisk. Frisk being given a spear to defend themselves against Undyne's bullets, the child handling the spear with a lot of ease – as expected from having done this countless other times.

Once she got tired from trying to reach Frisk with one of her bullets, she jumped forward and swiftly knocked the spear out of Frisk's hands, that spear vanishing and leaving them defenseless. Not even for a moment Frisk looked at a loss of what to do, though. As soon as spears crossed the air, trying to strike them, Frisk dodged them with ease, their red SOUL avoiding the worst part of the attacks. They had perfect control over its movements, instead of having it as close to as possible to themselves like Syphus had done in his own FIGHT with Undyne, they weren't afraid of having some distance between their SOUL and their body. Spears whizzed between them, Frisk threw themselves onto the floor, rolling, standing up and always keeping their eyes on Undyne. She narrowed her eyes in concentration, trying to aim at the floating red heart, but it was as if Frisk was predicting her moves, no matter how many spears she created or from what directions they flew, she hadn't touched neither Frisk nor the SOUL not even once.

"Nghaaaagh! Stop moving!" she yelled, turning the SOUL green and once again passing a spear to Frisk for a fair match. Knowing what they had to do, Frisk made sure to keep their SOUL close to them, again repelling all the bullets with the spear Undyne gave them.

The cycle continued for a moment before Frisk had the chance to flee. As soon as his SOUL returned to its normal color, they ran forward, looking like they're going to lunge at Undyne. Undyne grit her teeth, steeling herself for impact, but Frisk changed directions at the last second, going towards the path behind Undyne. "Where do you think you're going, punk?!" Undyne shouted, getting into the pursuit. As soon as they got out of sight, Syphus advanced to try to keep an eye on them. He got to the rock arch just in time to see Frisk managing to escape again, much to Undyne's frustration. Her screams of anger reverberated in the cavern.

In matter of minutes Frisk managed to lead Undyne further away, towards Hotland, with Syphus keeping his distance far behind them. Despite Syphus' fears, Frisk was doing extremely well, getting away despite being caught a couple times. The temperature of the atmosphere started warming up, the red glow in the distance turned larger, until Undyne and Frisk were no more than silhouettes, framed against the opening at the end of Waterfall. Undyne caught Frisk, grabbing them and shoving a spear in their hands. "That's enough! Stop running away! When are you going to _fight_?!"

Frisk didn't reply, instead dropping the spear onto the ground and running again. "Again?!" Undyne shouted, having realized she forgot to turn Frisk's SOUL green. By then Frisk had gotten to the sentry station, passing in front of Sans sleeping there. Syphus, taking a bit of a risk, got closer, until he could see the other side of the bridge over the large chasm full of lava. He stepped on the bridge, trying to look forward, the wood creaking beneath his foot. He started to advance, hoping to be subtle enough to not be noticed-

"hey"

Syphus jumped backwards, not having expected someone to talk to him. Sans, having opened an eye socket, was looking at him with amusement. "Be quiet, Sans!" Syphus urged as softly as possible, without turning to look at the skeleton.

"so you managed to catch up to them. kudos to you, bud. now what?"

"Now I—here she comes" Syphus got behind the sentry station, crawling inside it to hide. Sans was gone, the station was empty, so he huddled underneath the counter, listening to Undyne's heavy steps. When the clanking of her steps was gone, he peered over the counter, not seeing neither Undyne nor Frisk.

"you don't have to hide anymore, 'phus"

Caught off-guard again, Syphus slipped in his attempt to get under the counter again, hitting his chin against the wood of the station. "Could you stop disappearing and appearing over and over?" he groaned, holding his jaw.

"sorry. habit. but really, what're you gonna do now?"

Syphus let go off his jaw. "I suppose I'll try to talk to Frisk, ask how things are going...it has been a while since I talked to them"

"you don't think they're capable of doing whatever they want to do?"

"That's not it, I just want to make sure they'll be okay. That's what friends do"

Sans shrugged. "did you know in every other timeline i have gotten info on the kid got out of the underground two weeks ago? this is the most they have lived here"

"I get it, Sans, my presence and other stuff made everything different. You don't have to tell me again" Syphus was about to add something else, but when he turned his head around he found Sans was gone again. _That skeleton is going to give me a headache one of these days_ Syphus thought, standing up and going towards Alphys' laboratory. Cohen and Ananas were supposed to be waiting there – if not at the village, as agreed, but if Undyne and Frisk had been going around Waterfall he really hoped they had chosen to be at the laboratory.

Well, at least he was sure Undyne hadn't killed them and obtained their SOULs, or she'd have reacted differently to Frisk, mentioned she had some SOULs already, something. They had to be okay. _I hope._

-ooooo-

They were okay. Syphus escorted the rest of the team back to the Hidden Village, hearing them talk about Alphys. Cohen thought Alphys was a respect-worthy person, and Ananas was talking about the wonders of anime, having never seen something like that ever before. "Do you think there are magical cowboys? Can I be a magical cowboy?" she was asking, with a spring in her step.

"You're already magical" Syphus said.

"Oh. Right! I'll need to think of a pose. Magical Bullet Attack!" she spun around on one foot before aiming with her fingers forward "Something like that"

Cohen turned his head around away from her. He looked like he wasn't sure he should smile at that. "Blame Alphys for that"

"You liked anime too, I know you did" Ananas said, making the old man feel sheepish, admitting he did enjoy it.

Overall it was a nice day, everyone was satisfied. Once Syphus made sure Cohen and Ananas would be safe at the village, he left, hoping to find Frisk. If he remembered right, after the fight Frisk would go to Undyne's house with Papyrus, so they had to be there. Not wanting to intrude, Syphus instead stood aside the pond near Undyne's house, playing with the brooch pinned to his clothes.

Everything was going rather well...maybe a bit too well. Could things be so simple? Be prepared to get into someone's SOUL, defeat their Shadow Self, gather stuff, give it to Alphys, and repeat until everything was over? It seemed a bit too simple. He was starting to feel there had to be some sort of trap, some obstacle yet to come, but he couldn't imagine what it could be. He was still mulling that when from the corner of his eye he saw someone coming. Caught by surprise, he ran to a side, instinctively bracing himself for an attack.

"Woah!" Syphus got as close as possible to the wall while Undyne zoomed by, with no armor. She greeted him with a big grin without stopping, and vanished in the depths of Waterfall. _That was unusual._ It was true Undyne was energetic and prone to showing off her physical prowess, but why would she be running like that? Did something happen, or...oh! Right! There was one moment where Undyne would run all the way from her home to Snowdin, and that was right after she and Frisk turned friends. Finally!

Effectively, Syphus found Frisk right when they were leaving the passageway that led to Undyne's house. They seemed to be in excellent mood, humming cheerfully. "Frisk! Over here!" Syphus approached Frisk "You look happy today!"

"Undyne is my friend again" Frisk said, grinning brightly.

Good! Frisk's plans were going just fine. "Has any monster attacked you? Do you have enough healing items?" he kept asking questions like those, Frisk patiently answering them, until they passed in front of the entrance to a snail farm. Frisk stopped, looking with attention. When Syphus was about to ask if they had seen something strange in that direction the child asked an unexpected question:

"Do you want to race snails?"

Although Syphus wasn't sure why Frisk would suggest that, he accepted. The ghost that manned the farm seemed happy to have visitors in the farm – Syphus wasn't sure, he couldn't read the ghost's tone - and prepared the Thundersnail terrain for the race. Frisk generously paid every time and managed to always win, gladly letting Napstablook earn the so-called profit of one coin. The longer they raced the more thoughtful they looked, until they got tired of the game.

Frisk didn't choose to leave the farm, though. Instead they leaned on the fence, staring at the snails, with melancholic expression. Syphus watched the snails slowly going around the terrain. "You went silent, Frisk. What're you up to now?"

"You're still doing stuff with the timeline, right? You're the one who can SAVE and LOAD now"

"I'm on it. Don't worry and leave it up to me" he supposed Frisk was still concerned about how things would go with someone who wasn't them having such ability. He was mistaken, though.

"Okay" Frisk got on the fence, precariously leaning forward to look better at the snails "...I'm not used to not being able to LOAD...I have gone through the Underground many times. You know that, right?" Syphus nodded "I have been doing the same things over and over, I want to free monsters and help them live over the surface, but we always return here. I lost count how many times I have done it, and despite all that...I haven't given up yet! And I don't want to give up" Frisk swallowed, closing their eyes, and asked:

"Is that bad?"

"Why'd you think that?"

"I have been doing this for so long and I don't want to give up. It's the same thing every time. I feel I'm like a thousand years old already"

Syphus fretted, uncomfortable. His obsession to look for a perfect timeline led to this kid not being able to continue further than the same months over and over, even if Frisk themselves looped back countless times by their own choice. Trying to suppress budding feelings of guilt, Syphus hunched over, not looking at them. "I don't know. You tell me why you do the same thing over and over"

"Because I want my friends to be happy" Frisk replied immediately, they seemed rather sure about that "I like Papyrus, and Sans, and Undyne, and Alphys...and Mom and Asgore. I like all the monsters, and I want everyone to be happy over the surface"

Syphus smiled a bit. "Then there's nothing bad about that! You're worrying too much"

Frisk scratched the wood of the fence, frowning. "I never get tired of meeting them, and being friends with them over and over again...what if I'm doing something wrong and that's why the timeline keeps repeating?"

"Listen to me: it's not your fault"

"I LOADed lots of times. Even if that's bad I don't want to stop. But...but it's different now, I can't SAVE or LOAD. I'm scared of what'll happen if I make a mistake and I die forever..." Frisk's voice started trembling "...a-and if one of my friends accidentally k-kill me...that'd be worse, and I—"

Despite the repeating timelines, despite technically being hundreds if not thousand years old and trapped in the same few days, weeks or months over and over...Frisk was still no more than a child, a determined child that only wanted the best for monsterkind. That was easy to forget, but now, seeing Frisk so scared about the possibility of a permanent death, Syphus felt both pity and increasing guilt. "Okay, seriously, listen to me" he said, taking a sterner tone "I'm rooting for you. You won't let me go with you, but I'll protect you the best I can. If anything happens to you I'll bring you back no matter what, so don't be scared"

"I'm not scared! I just don't want to die..."

"Then don't let it happen" that sounded like an obvious statement, almost idiotic, but what else could he say? "Keep healing items with you at all times. Don't rush into anything. Be careful, and the most important part of it all: believe you'll survive. You have survived thousands of times, you can survive one time more" Despite how generic it all sounded, Frisk seemed to be listening attentively, as if they were being revealed something extremely important "Besides you have your friends' support! Don't be afraid of asking them for help"

"I see. I'll be careful" something in Frisk's voice showed they weren't completely satisfied with what Syphus had said, but they appreciated the effort.

 **Frisk confided their worries on you.**

 **The Human Child Social Link has reached Rank 5!**

 **Your power to create Personas of the Fool Arcana has grown!**

"So what's your plan now? Go into Hotland and hope for the best?"

"Yes. I have to see Alphys now" Frisk was about to explain who Alphys was, but Syphus stopped them, saying he already knew her. "I'll get going now. By the way...Syphus, have you met a..." they stopped.

"Met who?"

"Has a little yellow flower tried to talk to you?"

In that moment Syphus felt his heart plummeting. That was it. That's what he had forgotten. Flowey...what was he doing? He wouldn't just stand aside and let stuff happen, surely Flowey would try to get involved, watch closely what was going on. Where was he? "N-No, no flowers at all. Why, have you seen one?"

Frisk frowned. "No, I haven't"

-ooooo-

Sisyphus looked up from the board, leaving the pieces to continue their lives without his input. Instead he looked at Cornio, with impassive expression. "Where's Flowey?"

"What do you mean?" Cornio looked straight at Sisyphus' eyes, even though he wanted to divert his attention anywhere else.

"That flower's not going to sit back without getting involved somehow, but I haven't seen not even trace of him anywhere" Sisyphus leaned forward, putting his elbows on the edge of the table and resting his face on his hands. He sounded very calm, but something about his tone put Cornio in high alert. Trying to get an idea of what to do, Cornio glanced at Lucia, who mouthed a single word:

 _'Lie'_

"Flowey is my—my secret attack. You know how that is, in a game you prepare lots of strategies. This is another awesome strategy I have prepared!"

The lie seemed to calm Sisyphus down. Although he was skeptical about it, he chose not to continue pressing about it, hoping Cornio knew what he was doing. "Oh, alright, that makes sense! Sorry, for a moment I thought something had gone wrong with the timeline"

"That's impossible, Syphus. We don't make mistakes like that" Lucia intervened, grabbing him from the shoulder and making him sit back on his chair "Keep going, okay? Don't worry too much"

"Right. Okay, what happened the next day, Cornio?"

-ooooo-

The moment Syphus returned to the Hidden Village again he tried to contact Papyrus. If he remembered right, Papyrus was the most likely person in the Underground to know about Flowey, and if not him, then Sans. Someone had to know! Only when he had Cohen's cellphone in his hand he realized he didn't have a way to contact them besides going all the way to Snowdin, he didn't know his cellphone number. Since going all the way to Snowdin so late at night was something he didn't want to al, all he could do was ask Ciruel if he had heard anything.

"A yellow flower?" Ciruel crossed his arms, thinking "I haven't heard Paps mention anything like that. Is it important?"

" _Very_ important"

"Then I'll ask him next time I see him" the scholar adjusted his glasses "Not to be rude, but why don't you do it?"

Syphus looked around, as if he expected Flowey to be watching "There could be trouble if I do. I want this to be kept as secret as possible" Although Ciruel didn't look satisfied, he accepted to ask Papyrus about that next time he saw the skeleton. Now that the scholar had been asked to do that, the next day Syphus started working on what he'd planned to do ever since Alphys told him Toriel made the Royal Guard's armors.

New Home was the capital of the Kingdom of Monsters. Built around the Royal Castle, it was a group of gray buildings where all kind of monsters resided. It wasn't a particularly large town, taking around ten minutes to cross on foot. Besides the hospital, the aquarium, the castle itself were the most notable buildings, especially since the castle had more than enough space to allow all sorts of activities and groups to reside in. It was to be expected New Home's Royal Guard Headquarters would be at the castle. _Okay, Syphus, you just have to go inside and not be suspicious_. It wasn't like anyone would find out he looked human, not as long as he had the brooch. So what if he was going to be in the same building than the King of All Monsters, the one who had declared war against humanity and indirectly forced several humans huddle miserably in a place in Waterfall? Everything would be okay.

"Can I help you?" 027 was standing guard at the entrance of the headquarters. Syphus approached and explained why he was here. 027's stood up straighter, surprised "Now this is new! Go inside, we'll get the current person in charge to see you"

"You mean Undyne?" she was the captain, after all. Would she be the one to welcome him? 027 shook her head.

"No, the deputy will do it. Captain Undyne had an emergency at her home" 027 looked around, inflating her cheeks like a frog, and leaned forward "I heard she burned her house again!"

"...again."

"It happens every few months. You'll see, she'll build a new one all by herself. She always does. Oh, there comes the deputy"

Just like she said, another monster, dressed with the armor everyone in the Royal Guard had, approached, holding a clipboard. It took Syphus a moment to recognize that monster. _Oh no._ "Someone came to try to be an aide? About time somebody—" Royal Guard 047 stopped, having recognized Syphus too "You have got to be kidding me"

"You know him?"

The monster made of clay's featureless face seemed to crinkle, but he simply sighed. "Kinda. Come over here, we'll start" 047 took Syphus to the depths of the headquarters, taking him to a large storage room where lots of armors were strewn on the floor. Swords, halberds and other types of weapons were attached to the walls, and a large shelf at the far side of the room had several jars of mixtures Syphus hadn't seen yet. 047 rummaged through the armors, talking all the way. "I can't believe my luck. I know the Underground is a small place, but of all people _you_ had to be the one to come"

"Look, I'm sorry for everything that happened before, okay?" Syphus hurried to say, something 047 didn't seem pleased to hear.

"Forget that already. If it were up to me I'd tell you to get out, but I can't, so I'll give you a fair chance. Don't cause trouble and you'll be okay" he warned, passing a large breastplate and a jar of shiner "There's a lot to do everyday so speed is essential. Show me your technique"

Despite 047's obvious dislike, he wasn't lying when he said he'd give Syphus a fair chance. He made sure to give precise instructions, almost spartan-like, and appraised Syphus' effort with no intentions to mince words. "Disgraceful. Look here, the hilt of this sword is starting to fall down. You have to attach it tighter than this!"

"Like this?" Syphus pushed the blade deeper into the hit

"If you want it to fall apart in a guard's hands then yes. Now leave that aside and look at these armors. Look at where the joints of the arms fit into the rest. Some of the guards have more than two arms, the care for their armors is different"

There was a lot more variety in this job than Syphus had expected. Coat the right armors with cooling dirt, make sure everything was in top-shape, examine the manual weapons to make sure a monster's magic would be channeled properly, organize the helmets according to the guards that would be in duty later and the next day...it was no surprise the Royal Guard needed help, it was a lot of work to be done. "Very few helmets are the same. Some guards have ears, other have fins, other need different shapes for their heads – part of the job would be to make inventory and make sure every guard has at least one spare helmet"

After a couple hours, 047 wrote a few more things on the clipboard and sighed. "Okay, listen here: I don't like you, and you fall way below my standards. It's obvious this is the first time you hear about most of this stuff, you didn't even bother to research what the job would entail. Are you sure you want to work as an assistant here?"

 _I need to. It'd make things a lot easier for my team._ "I'm sure of it"

047 rubbed his chin, making a noise that sounded like grinding stones. "Then you're hired. Come whenever you can"

Syphus blinked. "Wait, what? Just like that?"

"There aren't that many monsters in the Underground. You're the only one who has come here in two weeks. I doubt you'll come every day, but try to be here as often as possible. The pay is nothing amazing, but you should have no complaints" 047 didn't have a face, but Syphus was pretty sure if he did, it'd have a very smug expression "And you don't look like the disciplined type to me. We'll keep looking for more assistants" It wasn't like Syphus was in liberty to protest. He really needed the job if he wanted access to good armors for the team. 047 took him to the hall, pointing at the entrance "Now get out of here"

What mattered is that he had been successful. So what if 047 didn't like him? He had obtained the job and that's what mattered.

-ooooo-

There was something awkward about measuring someon's body, in Syphus' opinion, so he left it to an expert. Byssa, self-proclaimed seamstress of the Hidden Village – having made the robes and shawls everyone wore in the village - agreed to give Syphus the measurement for armors. "That's purely hypothetical, right? You're not going to get them armor"

"Of course not! Where'd I get one anyway?"

Byssa had laughed derisively. "You're not fooling anyone, everyone's seen those weapons you three have. What are you all planning?" Syphus refused to answer that, so she shrugged "Fine. That's none of my business. Let's start with you. Extend your arms to the sides"

It seemed that leaving the weapons and other stuff somewhere else was a good idea. Alphys' laboratory seemed like the best option.

Getting access to the paperwork to request armor was rather easy. 047 pretty much shoved it into his hands. "Take notes. The crew at Waterfall have been losing their armors lately, we need these replacements..." he said before relaying a dozen or so armor parts they needed. Now the problem is to convince Undyne to sign the orders for Syphus' team's armors. Unlike the day before, Undyne was that day at the headquarters. Syphus found her in her office, stretching and trying to touch her toes.

"...that couch is the worst thing ever. It must be filled with rocks or something" she was muttering when Syphus entered. "Syphus? You're the new assistant? Congrats, I didn't think you'd really have the guts to try!"

"I have the guts to go wherever I want!" Syphus grinned cockily, passing the paperwork to Undyne and trying to think of the best way to bring up what he was looking for. Seeing the small pile of paper, Undyne sighed, rolled her eyes and sat on her desk, her armor clanking.

"Damn it, more of this stuff..." Undyne frowned "Wait, what's this? And this one?" she took out from the pile the paperwork for Syphus' requests.

"Yeah, about those—"

"027 is the only one around here who's close enough to this size, but she doesn't need new armor" Undyne looked up from the paperwork "Do you know about this?"

"That's what I'm trying to tell you. Those are for me"

"For you?" Undyne looked at the measurements in some of the paperwork, then back at Syphus "You're a scrawny twig, snake, but that'll be too small even for you"

 _You could have said that without the 'scrawny twig' part!_ "Look, I can give the materials and the money to make it, but I can't go see the Queen and ask her just like that"

"Ooooh, I see now. You're trying to use the Royal Guard as your way to get her to do what you want without even bothering to ask her face to face" she narrowed her eye "That's scummy, Syphus"

Syphus' feathers flattened, he had the good grace to look embarrassed. "I'm not happy about having to resort to this kind of strategy. I really don't want to bother the Q— _our_ Queen"

For a moment Undyne said nothing, looking at Syphus with an intimidating glare. The fact he had tried to do this was something she didn't like. Couldn't he have asked the Queen directly? That was what bothered her the most, that he was behaving cowardly. "...wait a second...you presented yourself to the Royal Guard just to ask me this!" she realized, actually sounding upset about that. Syphus nodded slowly, chastised.

"Yeah, that was what I was hoping"

"What do you want armor for, anyway? Are you going to try to pretend to be part of the Royal Guard? Is that it?!"

 _Damn it, no!_ "No, of course not! I just...one's for me, the others are for a couple friends. Undyne, we need armor urgently. If we could, we would get it from somewhere else, but we need some _really good_ stuff" Syphus tried to emphasize that, looking a bit desperate "I'm not kidding, we need all the help we can get!"

Undyne's immediate thought was to say no, but then she thought a bit more. If Syphus went as far as to get a labor-intensive job at the Royal Guard for this, then he must be rather desperate. Besides, was he really the kind of person that'd do something bad with these armors? Undyne wanted to believe he wouldn't – the problem was that he was rather underhanded. He looked meek and harmless, but this was the second time he tried to pull the wool over her eyes. What was up with him?

"...fine" her mouth formed a line, realizing what she had just said. She decided it'd be cruel to back off now, so she continued "Look, as long as you don't do something bad with these then I suppose this is okay" she signed the paperwork, commenting: "If this small armor didn't have arms or needed a tail I'd have thought it was for Monster Kid, you know" Once everything was in order, Undyne got off the desk, starting to lead Syphus out of her office "Bring me the materials and pay the gold, and you'll get the new armors in one day, got it?"

"Thanks, Undyne, I owe you a big one, seriously!"

Undyne grinned broadly "And you'd never fool me. I know who's in the Royal Guard. These are the people I work with for a common goal! A few dozen hearts, all with the same goal-!" slowly, Undyne's grin vanished. Instead she stopped, staring towards a side of her office. "...hey. Syphus, wait"

"What's it?"

She put a hand on his shoulder, making him flinch. He hadn't expected such sudden contact, but she seemed too worried to notice how his body didn't fit the monster's shape. Her fingers curled on his shoulder, she wasn't trying to coerce him or intimidate him, she just wanted a grip to show how serious she was now "Tell me, do you think we should take human SOULs from every human that falls down here?"

"Why do you ask that?" That wasn't the kind of conversation he thought he'd get into with Undyne. It made him rather nervous, even though he managed to keep a neutral face.

"Just answer me!"

Syphus involuntarily stood straighter. "The Barrier needs the SOULs, but I don't like the part about killing humans"

It seemed that was the answer Undyne had been hoping for. She let go off Syphus' shoulder and clapped him on the back. "That's what I wanted to hear" she went to the door and looked into the hallway. Nobody was coming. "Syphus, come see me tonight at my hou—oh, right. Come see me at Snowdin, okay? I'm staying at Papyrus' house. He lives in this big house that's-"

"I know Papyrus and Sans, I know where they live" he said, giving a quick farewell before leaving to return to his job.

While Syphus went to return to the storeroom he worked at, he mulled about what Undyne had said. Something about Undyne had changed, and Syphus was sure it was Frisk's influence. Frisk, they had befriended her. That had to have affected her, so it was likely that was what Undyne wanted to talk about.

Should that make him nervous? He wasn't sure about that, but for some reason...he actually felt prepared. Things were going rather well! Despite the general situation and the fact there was a lot of effort yet to do, he felt largely positive! Breaking the Barrier was looking more and more like a real possibility!

 **You feel like you're getting closer to the goal.**

 **The Last Timeline Social Link has reached Rank 3!**

 **Your power to create Personas of the Aeon Arcana has grown!**

With renewed panache, Syphus entered the storage room and grabbed one of the gauntlets to start cleaning it, sighing at the pile of work he had yet to do. It was going to be a long day.

* * *

 **SOCIAL LINKS:**

 **Fool - Frisk - RANK 5**

 **Magician - Burgerpants - RANK 2**

 **Priestess - Alphys - RANK 4**

 **Empress - Toriel - RANK 2**

 **Emperor - Cohen - RANK 4**

 **Hierophant - Ciruel - RANK 2**

 **Lovers - ? - RANK 0**

 **Chariot - Ananas - RANK 5**

 **Justice - Undyne - RANK 3**

 **Hermit - ? - RANK 0**

 **Fortune - ? - RANK 0**

 **Strength - ? - RANK 0**

 **Hanged Man - ? - RANK 0**

 **Death - Cornio - RANK 2**

 **Temperance - ? - RANK 0**

 **Devil - ? - RANK 0**

 **Tower - ? - RANK 0**

 **Star - Lucia - RANK 2**

 **Moon - ? - RANK 0**

 **Sun - Papyrus - RANK 3**

 **Judgment - Team - RANK 2**

 **Aeon - Syphus - RANK 3**

 **Jester - Alphonse - RANK 2**


	26. The Fifth Victim

The Royal Guard Headquarters at New Home was nothing amazing. The section of the royal castle where it was located was near the base, allowing there to be a small training ground, surrounded by a tall stone fence. Training dummies and targets attached to the stone fence were the most notable objects around. Everything looked beaten up, used. The fence itself wasn't damaged – magic bullets didn't cause physical damage unless it was a bullet of considerable strength – but the targets were scuffed and looked like they'd fall apart in any moment.

Syphus entered the training ground, carrying a spare training dummy and positioning it at the end of the courtyard, right aside the stone wall. He patted the cover of the dummy to clean it a little, making sure it wouldn't fall down. "Over here?"

"That's good!" 023 indicated, holding the axe over his shoulder. He was an avian monster, tall and lanky. From what Syphus remembered, the species that looked like him the most was the peregrine falcon, with pupils so dilated they resembled marbles. Royal Guard 023 raised his axe, indicating Syphus to step aside, and drew a large arch with it, from side to side of the courtyard. Orange bullets, shaped like feathers, formed on the sides, converging in a spiral around the dummy. All the feathers made contact with the dummy, rocking it from side to side, until the last ones propelled it into the air a bit, making it fall on its back. "That's how it's done!"

"Do you specialize in orange bullets?" Syphus asked, putting the dummy back on its base.

"That's right. My partner, 025, specializes in blue bullets. Together we're unstoppable!" with an almost theatrical flair, 023 slammed the axe into the ground of the courtyard, feathers emerging from the ground underneath the dummy and throwing it into the air with ease.

"025 is..."

"The one that's standing at the entrance, the short gal. You'll like her"

023 continued practicing, asking Syphus to position dummies in different formations, and always hitting them, no matter how he moved made the bullets move or where the dummies were standing. Syphus wasn't convinced he'd fare as well against a real human constantly moving around, though. He supposed 025 was supposed to cover those flaws with her blue bullets. After a while, 023 stopped, satisfied. "That's enough for today" 023 plopped the axe in Syphus' hands. It was a bit heavier than he had expected, but he managed not to fall to the floor with it "Do you have free time today?"

"I think I do" he said. The meeting with Undyne was scheduled to be during the night, surely he had some time to spare "Why?"

"Want to drink something? My pals and I like to reunite about now. Come on, join us"

That was how Syphus soon found himself with several other guards, sitting on the small cafeteria of the headquarters. It was just a long table and a counter with jars of powdered drinks and a tiny stove, there wasn't even a fridge. 023, 025 and 027 sat together, apparently 025 and 027 were twins. "So that's the guy who was hired to help around here..." 046 looked at him, inexpressive "Go make us something...please" he requested while 01 and 02 entered the cafeteria.

"Be polite, 046" 025 whispered.

"I said 'please', that's plenty polite"

"It's okay, I don't mind" Syphus said, getting behind the counter. It wasn't long before he had several cups of hot cocoa, passing them around for everyone to have. "I know this is not the best time for chocolate, but...I always find it comforting after a long day. Thought you'd like it"

025 smiled. "That's good" once she had her cup, enjoying the beverage, she sighed, putting her webbed hands on the table "So...you all have heard the rumors?"

"What rumors?"

"I heard a few monsters say there's a human roaming around in Hotland" 046 said "They say it's a child, wearing a striped sweater"

"And if there's a child around here, then they must be going to the castle. They'll want to see the king!" 023 said.

"Really? You, uh, you really think they'd go to the king's face and be all like, 'yo'?" 01 said.

"The Barrier is that way. Of course they would" 025 looked at her sister, who nodded.

"They'll try to kill Mr. Dreemurr...we have to stop them"

In that moment, Syphus timidly cleared his throat, getting everyone's attention. _I can't let them get in Frisk's way!_ "Are you sure they'd kill the king? What if they're harmless?"

"Harmless?" 027 seemed skeptical.

"Has anyone reported the human has attacked anybody?"

02 shook his head, his voice rumbling. "That doesn't matter"

"What? Why not?"

"Bro is right. Humans are scary powerful" 01 said, actually looking fearful "Not only their bodies are physical and can hurt us a lot, they, like, they also have powers"

"I hadn't heard that before...what kind of powers?" 046 inquired.

"Like...mind control powers. It's insane. They look at you, and they make you do stuff"

"That's nonsense!" Syphus hadn't noticed he had raised his voice until 023 told him to calm down a bit, so he took a sip and tried to compose himself "Humans can't do that. Why'd you think that?"

"The captain said it"

"I was there. Undyne did say that" 02 came in 01's defense.

"Oh. I must have forgotten about it" 027 mumbled. Syphus looked at them in disbelief, all the monsters present seemed to truly believe humans could control anyone's mind. _Thanks a lot, Undyne, Frisk owes you one!_

The mention of these supposed mind control powers made 025 stand up. "Wait!" The plant-like monster exclaimed "What if a human used mind control powers on the Queen and half of the Royal Guard?"

"You mean you think that's why the queen and so many of us don't want to kill humans for their SOULs?" 023 tried to get clarification.

"Exactly! It makes sense, right?"

"It does sound possible, bro" 01 told to 02, who nodded. _You have to be kidding me!_ Syphus abstained from facepalming, and tried to get the rest of the guards to realize that wasn't possible. It didn't work.

"Undyne knows what she says. She has watched a lot of human history; she has told us that many times" 023 argued.

"Yeah! To know our enemy, you have to know their history. That's how we get the upper hand!" 046 added.

"Really now." Syphus mumbled to himself while the rest of the guards voiced their agreement with 046. Not knowing how to convince them Frisk wasn't as dangerous as they were making them sound, he instead drank the rest of his cocoa as if it was a shot of liquor.

It didn't take long for the guards to come up with a plan of action. 027 had wanted to confront the human child herself, but 025 reminded her she couldn't afford getting in trouble again by abandoning her actual duty. "If the captain finds out you went gallivanting around Hotland _again_ you'll be kicked out of the Royal Guard" she said. Only 01 and 02 were able to make routes to look for the human.

"We'll tell you all if we find them, dudes" 01 promised, with 02 nodding behind him.

"Take their SOUL. We're counting on you two" 023 said, patting 02 on his back with enough strength to make the dragon hunch forward. One by one, the guards left, Syphus staying back.

Should he do something to help Frisk? After a moment of thinking he decided maybe it wouldn't be necessary. That child had encountered 01 and 02 in virtually all the timelines, and they were always successful. This didn't have to be different from that. He had seen how Frisk had survived against Undyne, and that was a far more difficult feat than fighting those two guards.

...but, just in case, he made a SAVE point.

-ooooo-

 _At times like these I wish I had fur!_

Snowdin was as cold as usual. The contrast between Hotland's heat and the nice temperature of New Home, Snowdin was like a bucketful of ice water to the face. It didn't help that Syphus didn't have his jacket anymore, it having been ruined during the fight with Shadow Alphys. At least his real form wasn't really a cold-blooded snake, and for that he was immensely grateful.

When Syphus knocked on the skeleton brothers' house, he heard Papyrus' voice from inside. "A VISITOR IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT! SANS! SANS, ARE YOU NAPPING AGAIN? WE'LL HAVE ANOTHER GUEST!" the door opened with a surprising amount of finesse, not with a swift pull like Syphus had expected. Papyrus' bright expression welcomed him. "SYPHUS! WHAT A NICE SURPRISE!"

"Evening, Papyrus. Is Undyne here?"

"OF COURSE SHE IS! WE'RE HAVING A SLEEPOVER, JUST THAT INSTEAD OF LASTING ONE NIGHT, IT'S GOING TO LAST INDEFINITELY" Papyrus stepped aside so Syphus entered. Undyne was lying down on the couch, watching the TV, with bored expression. When she saw Syphus, she jumped from the couch, landing on her feet.

"You did come!"

"I'LL NOW LEAVE YOU TO BOND AND BE FRIENDS. DO YOUR BEST!" Papyrus encouraged before jumping from the ground floor to the second floor, entering his room and closing the door behind him. Undyne sighed and shook her head, grinning fondly.

"He didn't have to do that; this is nothing he doesn't know already" she said, looking through the window to make sure there were no monsters passing nearby. It was unlikely anyone outside would hear what she'd say, but there was no harm in making sure. "You said you don't want to kill humans. Are you sure about that?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Syphus said slowly, unsure where this was going.

"You know we can't leave unless we have seven human SOULs, right?"

Syphus swallowed, trying to hide how nervous he felt. "Of course I know that, everyone knows that"

Undyne put her hands on her hips. "Don't tell anyone what I'm going to say: I met a human" she looked at his expression. Knowing that, he tried to feign surprise without exaggerating "I didn't kill them. We're friends now. Heck, they're in Papyrus' room right now, sleeping! Can you believe that?"

"Them being in Papyrus' room?"

"Not that! The part about me being friends with a human!"

Judging he had pretended to be stupid for long enough, Syphus crossed his arms, making it look like he was mulling what Undyne had said. "How did a human survive at all? Everyone's hoping to get their SOUL, how did they survive?"

"I dunno, but that kid has a way to make themselves liked. No wonder no guard in Snowdin killed them!"

"I see" Syphus waited a moment "And what's wrong with that? You made a friend, there's nothing wrong with it"

"Nothing wrong? Are you serious?" Undyne started pacing around the living room, gesturing wildly with her arms "Look at me, I'm the captain of the Royal Guard! I'm the one who talks the most about getting the SOULs, because the king doesn't like to talk about that. Everyone's relying on the King and on me to get out of here!"

"That doesn't really mean anything—"

"It means a lot! Can't you feel it? I feel it every day, everyone's hopes that we're going to get out of this hole someday. Even if we don't have not even one single human SOUL after more than a century, everyone still believes it can happen! And they trust me to help them, that's what I live for!"

Syphus shivered a bit at the intensity of Undyne's tone. "And being friends with a human doesn't help achieve that"

"Exactly! Do you know what everyone would say if they knew _the captain of the Royal Guard_ is protecting a human?"

"Everyone says _the Queen_ is doing that. It'll be just a rumor if you make sure to be careful, don't worry too much"

Undyne let out a loud groan of frustration. "Are you stupid or are you just pretending to be?" _Whooops. Looks like I fooled around too much._ "Nobody has proof the Queen is protecting humans. _That_ 's why it's just a rumor. It'll be different with me, because I don't intend to hide it.

I'm going to tell everyone about the human"

Syphus' eyes widened, his reptilian pupils turning into pinpricks. "You can't do that!"

"I can't just lie to everyone. I'll announce I'm now friends with the human who fell down here, and that I'll do what I can to protect them!" Judging by her voice, there was nothing Syphus could say to convince her to not do it. Once Undyne made a decision, it was unlikely she'd change her mind. She stopped pacing around "And just like I won't lie to them, I won't lie to you: I'm worried about what they'll say.

I dunno what'll happen. I could lose everyone's trust, or the rest of the Royal Guard who's following Asgore's plan to be at war with humanity will disobey me and hunt Frisk. Anything could happen!

But even if I'm worried, I can't let that stop me. This is something I must do! For Frisk's sake!"

"N-Nice, I guess..." If Undyne wasn't going to stop, then maybe damage control was a good idea? And for that, he needed to know exactly what she was planning to do. "What do you have in mind?"

Undyne scowled. "I don't have a clue yet. I'll think of something. It'll be a big announcement; I'll have to do it properly, and for that, I'm going to need help"

I think I see where this is going. "And you're going to ask me for help?"

"Something like that. Alphys and you will help me. I still have to ask Alphys, but I know she'll accept. She and I will always help each other no matter what, I trust her fully. And you..." Undyne looked friendlier than she ever did "I dunno what's up with you, but I feel like I can trust you to help me. You may be a sneaky mystery in some ways, but when I talk to you I think you're honest about wanting to be friends with me.

And that's why I called you here, because I trust you to help me. What do you say?"

 _It's not like I could back off, not after you said that_. Besides, it wasn't like Syphus didn't want to help Undyne, he was fine with it, so he nodded. "I will. You can count on me"

"Now that's the spirit!" Undyne laughed, giving Syphus a high five so strong his hand ached.

 **You feel your bond with Undyne has gotten a little stronger.**

 **The Undyne  Social Link has reached Rank 4!**

 **Your power to create Personas of the Justice Arcana has grown!**

Undyne sat on the couch. "This is what we're going to do: for now, I think I'll talk with Alphys. You're too new to be seen as someone who can help me with the announcement. Alphys is the Royal Scientist, even though she doesn't go out much her title's still there"

"So what will I do?"

"It depends on how my speech goes. Yeah, that's what I'll do, a speech, in front of everyone in the Royal Guard" Undyne grinned "I don't mean to boast much, but Alphys says I have a way with words. Oh, wait, I totally mean to boast, fufufu!"

Syphus managed to give a tense smile. Something about it all still bothered him. Was it that this would change the situation considerably? Things had already diverted from the usual events because of all the humans' survival, and he had no idea what the consequences of this all would be. The more preparations that could be done just in case things went pear-shaped, the better. "Okay, when will you give your speech?"

"In two days. Tomorrow I'll work on what I'll say, and in two days I'll say it, right there in front of everyone, at the headquarters. You'll be there too, right?"

"Of course I will!"

"I knew you'd say that. Keep working hard, I'll see you in two days!"

Despite the daunting action she was going to do in two days, she seemed to be trying her best to grin and pretend she wasn't worried. Her fortitude was inspiring, so much Syphus had no more option than admire her for it. It didn't make his unease go away, though.

-ooooo-

The next day, 027 served everyone some tea. Syphus, his hands still smelling like cleaning solution for the armors, grabbed his cup, listening to the conversation around him. "Have you seen captain Undyne today? She's acting strange" 023 said.

"Strange? What do you mean with 'strange'?" 027 asked, sitting down.

"She looks...like there's something bothering her"

046 rolled his eyes. "She burned her house down again, what else would be bothering her?"

"That's not it! It feels more like..." 023 tried to find the right words to describe his impression, but gave up after a moment "I dunno how to say it. It's a feeling, just that"

"You're imagining things" Syphus mumbled half-heartedly.

In that moment, 025 entered the cafeteria, apologizing for being late. "Guys! The captain says she has an announcement tomorrow!"

"...there you go, that must be what the captain's been thinking about" no sense to try to deny it, now that the cat was out of the bag. The guards leaned on the table, looking at 025 with expectation.

"What's it about?"

"Increased vacation time?"

"Of course not!"

046 smirked. "Come on, guys, there's only one thing it can be: it's about the human's SOUL. Captain Undyne must have taken that human's SOUL! We're one step closer to freedom!" 046's affirmation was quickly agreed upon; nobody could think of any other reason Undyne could have to make a big announcement. Syphus, not joining their excited voices, kept a neutral face. _Everyone's going to be so disappointed tomorrow._

"See? I knew the captain would be able to do it. We need only six SOULs more!"

01 fidgeted a bit. "The human must have taken another route. 02 and I didn't see them at all" As if 01 needed support, 02 nodded.

027 beamed. "I'm sure the captain will explain it tomorrow. I can't wait! At what time will it be?"

"Tomorrow morning" her twin sister informed "And it'll be at the courtyard"

While the rest of the guards cheerfully discussed what the captain would say about the human SOUL she had captured, he stared at the depths of his cup of tea. There was a time and a location now. The more excited guesses he heard, the less he liked what Undyne planned to do. _She's really putting herself at risk here._

"...meeting with the Royal Scientist before coming here" he heard 01 say. That snippet of information got him to raise his head.

"With Alphys?" Syphus inquired. Right, she had said she'd talk with Alphys...maybe something could be done, after all!

"That's her name? She, like, never leaves the laboratory"

"If the Royal Scientist can work with one human SOUL, we may not need the rest. Science can do a lot of crazy things; she'll be able to do something!" 046 nodded as if that was confirmed already. The more everyone talked, the more hopes they poured into Undyne's announcement. Cheers filled the tiny cafeteria. Later, when Syphus left the Royal Guard headquarters, he passed near other guards, all of them looking optimistic, hopeful. Everyone was expecting Undyne to reveal the first step towards their freedom had finally been taken, that freedom was not just a dream. That sooner or later the Barrier would be broken.

The situation was starting to get out of control.

-ooooo-

Alphys seemed to be aware of the consequences of what was going to happen the next day. When Syphus explained to her Undyne's announcement had the potential to cause quite a lot of indignation among the Royal Guard, and that he wasn't sure Undyne's announcement would be enough to keep Frisk protected, she nodded sadly, avoiding to look at him to the eyes. "I-I told her that, but...she still w-wants to do it. She thinks it's a matter of honor, because she changed her mind a-about taking their SOUL..."

"Doesn't she understand that's going to be dangerous?"

"She understands that, but s-she says she can convince everyone" Alphys smiled faintly "She's so confident and thinks s-she can't fail...I don't have the heart to tell her i-it's unlikely" the scientist sat heavily on her couch, sighing "I should tell her...but I know her. Even if I do, I think she'd do it anyway"

"But she trusts you a lot! Surely she'd listen to you!"

"She would" but for how long could Alphys stop her? Undyne could be rather stubborn, she knew that. Even if she didn't do this announcement the next day, someday she would. Undyne wasn't the kind of person that'd let herself be dissuaded if she felt she was doing the right thing – and trying to stop everyone from killing humans to take their SOULs was the right thing. Besides, it was too late to pretend nothing was happening. The entire Royal Guard knew Undyne wanted to say something big, even if she cancelled the announcement, everybody would try to find out what's going on. Sooner or later, Undyne would end telling the truth.

It was a lose-or-lose situation, no matter how Alphys saw it.

A bit at a loss, Syphus passed his hands through his hair, trying to think fast. "So all we can do is damage control. We're alone in this, Alphys. We can't ask Annie or Cohen to help us with that"

"What'll we do?"

"...I don't know. That's the problem, I really don't know what to do" he grabbed the firefly brooch, turning it around in his hands "I suppose an option is to wait and see what Undyne's going to say, or we could try to find out beforehand. Think she'd tell you what she'll say?"

But later once Undyne arrived and was coyly asked about her plans, there was no new information. Even though she got Undyne to talk to her about her announcement, she didn't tell much about it. "You'll see, it's going to be memorable!" she had boasted, sweating nervously. Even though she was enthusiastic, it was undeniable there was some nervousness hidden beneath her excitement.

"I'm not sure about this, Undyne" Syphus said, examining the armors with Alphys. Just as he hoped, Toriel knew what she was doing. The quality of the armor was outstanding.

"Don't be ungrateful, the Queen herself did that armor for you!"

"I didn't mean the armor; I mean what you're going to do tomorrow"

"I-I agree, Undyne, I-I'm not sure that's a good idea" Alphys supported.

"Again with that? This is the only chance I'll have. I'm the captain of the Royal Guard. There's something I can do to help Frisk, so I will. I can't just stand aside and let them be harmed!"

"You're right about that...that'd be good" Alphys glanced at Syphus, who nodded, his reptilian face showing an expression of resignation "But is this the only way?"

Undyne sighed, closing her eye. "I'm not sure, but...it's just a start. I'll see where things go from here. Trust me, Alphys, it'll be better to say the truth. Hiding it...it just isn't a good idea"

"...but lying could be a good idea s-sometimes..."

"I can't think of a reason to lie like that" she said in a tone that showed she had no intention to argue about that. She was right, and nothing Alphys or Syphus could say would convince her otherwise. While Alphys and Syphus looked at each other worriedly, Undyne perused Alphys' DVD collection, looking for something good. "Let's watch this one today!"

For the rest of the time they spent together, only Undyne could focus in the anime. They were too worried about the many ways Undyne's plans could go wrong, not even the familiar allure of anime could distract them. Soon Syphus excused himself, leaving the armor in Alphys' laboratory, abandoning Alphys to her own worries until Undyne left as well.

-ooooo-

The morning was unusually chilly, everyone in the Royal Guard noticed. 023 was glad he was inside his snug armor, he was sure if things got colder, he'd start seeing his own breath. Near him 046 shivered, wrapping his arms around his torso. "This feels like we're in the middle of Snowdin. How can the dogs deal with the cold?"

"They have fur"

"I know, sheeesh. I bet they wouldn't feel the difference between Snowdin and New Home today"

No guard from Snowdin or the Ruins was among those gathered at the Royal Guard headquarters, and only a few from those stationed in Waterfall were in attendance. Everybody had come to the same conclusion: Undyne intended to talk about having obtained a human SOUL. Those who didn't support taking human SOULs didn't come, the courtyard looked rather empty. There were only around a dozen people in attendance. 023 looked around, seeing most of the group of friends. 047 was near the door, watching over everybody just like his duty was. 01 and 02 had said they'd be late; they were patrolling around Hotland. "Where's Syphus?"

"Dunno. He said he didn't want to see Undyne right now. You think he didn't like the idea about taking human SOULs?"

"He did try to defend the human the other day"

046 sighs. "...don't tell anyone I said this, but...I'm not happy about doing it either. But it's something we need to do, otherwise we can't get out. And everybody's counting on us"

"Really?" 023 shrunk a bit into his armor. "When I hear my father talking about seeing the surface someday I feel I have to find a way to help him do it. I don't have anything against humans, it's just that this is the only way"

"Exactly. If there was some other way, the Royal Scientist would have found it already. We don't have any other option. And think about being outside! Think about the surface!"

023 cheered up a little. "Yeah! There's so much to do once we're out. We'll have the whole world to see"

"You think the sky's still blue?"

046 was about to answer to that when Alphys entered the courtyard, shivering a bit. Behind her, Undyne strolled, wearing her entire armor and walking with determination. When Alphys got in front of everyone, she tried to get their attention. _That's Alphys?_

Undyne stood in front of everyone, standing up straight. Nobody could see her expression due to the helmet. Alphys, looking around with nervousness, introduced her. "U-Um...here's U-U-Undyne...and she has something to a-announce..." Alphys was sweating heavily. As soon as she said that, she pretty much ran to the side of the courtyard, leaving Undyne free to say whatever she wanted. Undyne made her armor clank and shouted loudly.

"NGAAAAAAH! I'm Undyne! And I have an announcement to make!" her voice echoed a bit strangely inside her helmet.

"Here it comes...!" 046 murmured to 023 and leaned forward to listen better.

"For centuries we have been trapped underneath this mountain. It's been a nightmare for us monsters! And to break the Barrier, we'd have to gather seven human SOULs!" the murmurs among the guards gathered increased. Undyne knew how to rouse a crowd, 023 could feel excitement growing within him, even though he didn't really want to feel it. The surface was one step closer! "You all must have heard there was a human in the Underground. I confronted them! I went to Waterfall, told them the story of all people, and squared off in an _EPIC_ battle with them! A rousing fight! We fought tooth and nail in the battlefield! My spears versus their determination!"

"And you won!" one of the guards yelled. Undyne raised her hand, silencing him.

"I fought them. And what happened was that...! Was...wh-what happened...was...th..." slowly, Undyne's voice started to interrupt, like something was choking her. The cheerful mood in the courtyard slowly morphed into one of unease, Undyne was now standing still, looking forward without saying a word.

And then she fell.

She simply leaned backwards, as if she was doing a trust exercise, and fell down to the floor with a loud clank. As soon as she touched the ground, Alphys hurried towards her, before anyone else even realized what was happening. "Captain?!" 046 shouted, getting to Alphys, who was lifting Undyne's head a bit. "What's wrong?"

"I-I think she fainted!" Alphys said, looking like she was about to cry.

023 got to them, kneeling besides Undyne's body. "We should take her helmet off, let her breathe!" he moved his hands towards the helmet but Alphys stopped him, speaking with urgency.

"No! W-Wait, we don't know what caused her to fall down like this. It could be—it could be something inside her helmet! It could spread and make us fall down too"

"I thought that only happened because of old age..."

Alphys shook her head. "I-I meant faint, y-you know, f-falling down as in falling down to the floor, o-okay? Now we need to take her to my laboratory—"

"We're taking her to the hospital" Royal Guard deputy 047 intervened, talking with authority. Something about his tone bothered 025, an instinctive desire to rebel against the temporal deputy who had gained such role just a couple days before.

"Who died and made you king, 047?"

"Undyne named me deputy temporally, remember? I'm in charge as long as she's like this and the monster I'm replacing isn't here" he said bluntly, then turned to Alphys "We're taking her to the hospital. No offense, doctor, but they'll know better than you what to do"

"Um...uh...o-okay...but don't touch the helmet, we n-need to be careful...just in case" Alphys stammered, stepping back. The guards who picked Undyne up obeyed, simply carrying Undyne out of the headquarters and towards the nearby hospital.

It didn't take long to have Undyne in a room up in the second floor of the almost vacant hospital. Once she was placed on the bed, still completely clad with the armor, most of the guards left, leaving 047, Alphys and 025 there. "O-Okay, everything's going to be okay...d-don't worry, Undyne..."

"Now that she's here we should remove the armor" 047 suggested, his voice actually sounded concerned. Even though he was the deputy, he wasn't completely comfortable with being in charge, and even less when the captain was right there, lying immobile on a bed.

Alphys was about to insist again they needed to be careful, but 025 did it before she could. "Let's leave it to the doctors"

"I know healing magic, I should give it a try" to demonstrate, he summoned a green spherical bullet, letting it levitate in the air before vanishing.

"You're not a professional, don't do that!" 025 realized she shouted that, and after looking at Undyne as if fearing she had woken her up, she added, soothing: "I know you care about her, but let's not do that"

047 sighed after a moment, embarrassed. There he had gone, telling Alphys Undyne would be taken to the hospital because she wasn't a medic, and here he was going to meddle despite not being one either. It was hypocritical and he knew it. "Fine. Darn it, I feel useless..." he muttered before stepping out. 025 and Alphys followed him to the hallway. "Okay, I'll go get the medic. What're you two going to do?"

"I-I'll wait here...I don't want to leave Undyne alone" Alphys said.

025 looked down the hallway. "I'll go back to HQ. Everybody must be so worried about the captain...at least they'll be glad to know she's in capable hands" Now that they agreed on what to do, 025 left the hospital, and 047 looked for the medic at the reception. Only the receptionist was there.

"You'll have to fill this form first, sir" the receptionist gave him a sympathetic look "I'm sorry, it's protocol"

"Fine. I know protocol, I live for it" And it mattered even more when the monster it was about was as important for monsterkind's hopes as Undyne was. Glad to be able to focus on something, he grabbed the form, trying not to leave clumps of clay on it from his fingers, and started filling it out.

He had only gotten hallway in when Alphys ran into the reception, wheezing and sweating heavily. When she opened her mouth it was clear that wasn't just because she wasn't used to running. "Undyne's gone!"

"What?!" 047 dropped the pen and immediately ran down the hall and up the stairs, followed by Alphys pleading him to stop. He bolted through the door of Undyne's room, finding an empty bed inside. A quick search revealed Undyne was nowhere in the room. Not under the bed, not in the cabinet, nowhere at all. Only her armor was there, neatly put on the bed. "What's going on here?!" he turned towards the entrance, where Alphys was leaning against the frame, trying to regain her breath "Alphys, what's the meaning of this?!"

"I-I-I don't know! I was there b-but Undyne n-never left the—I didn't step away; I swear I-I-I didn't!"

"Then where's she? She didn't jump down the window, that's for sure!" for a moment the two of them stared at each other, realizing that Undyne was more than capable of leaving the hospital through the window if she wanted. 047 opened the window wide open, looking outside.

025, 023, 027 and 046 were directly underneath the window, talking, looking worried. 027, having heard the sound of 047 opening the window, looked upwards. "What's up? How's the captain?"

"She's missing, that's how she is! Did any of you see her?"

"Missing? You _lost_ the captain?!" 023 didn't just stand around. He immediately left the group to go into the hospital, while 047 asked again the other three if they had seen Undyne at any point.

"I-I stumbled upon the rest here when I was going to HQ, I didn't see Undyne" 025 looked at them pleadingly, as if begging for confirmation "Did any of you see her?"

"No!"

"We have been here for a while already; she can't have passed over here without us seeing her"

047 grabbed his head, groaning. The day was turning out to be a living nightmare in every sense of the word. It took him a moment to calm down enough to give instructions, until he stopped feeling like he wanted to scream. "Okay, listen to me: everything's going to be okay. We're all going to look for Undyne. She can't have gone too far, look for her here in New Home. Ask people around if they have seen Undyne" he pointed at 023 "Except you, you stay here. The rest of you, go!"

025, 027 and 046 saluted and went away to search through New Home and get other guards to do the same. 023, unsure why 047 made him stay, looked at him with unease. "What do you need me for?"

"Give me a moment" 047 turned to Alphys "Where'd Undyne go?"

"W-Where? Oh, um...it's—it's hard to say...her house doesn't e-exist anymore, so she can't go th-there..."

"Where's she staying?"

"At Snowdin, she has friends there...but that's too far away, even by boat"

047 had to admit Alphys was right about that, it was unlikely Undyne would try to go to the other side of Waterfall. "What about your laboratory? That's pretty close"

"M-M-M-My laboratory? Uh, but that's in Hotland, s-she doesn't l-like Hotland...and she knows I w-was here in New Home. She has no reason to go there"

Taking a decision, 047 took out his cellphone. "I'll get guards to search Hotland and the MTT Resort" he sighed for what felt like the umpteenth time that day, his faceless head vibrating "I can't believe we're doing this, searching for our captain like she was some sort of criminal!"

"It's what we need to do" 023 muttered, unsure what else he could say.

"Right. 023, talk with that River Person monster. Tell them to contact a guard if they see Undyne"

023 saluted and walked away to tell the River Person. Fifteen minutes passed, 047 stayed at the hospital, just in case. He had hoped somebody would find Undyne and bring her back, he really wanted to know why she'd get out of her room like that. What had happened at the headquarters? Had she merely fainted? If that was all that happened, why didn't she tell anyone she woke up?

And how had she gotten out of the room? Alphys was at the door and she said nobody had passed by. Four guards were outside the window, and they saw nobody either. The receptionist and himself were at the reception, and they hadn't seen Undyne at all. It was simply impossible Undyne could leave the hospital or even her room, how had that happened?

Alphys stayed nearby, examining her surroundings nervously and looking like she was about to throw up. When he asked her if she was sure Undyne hadn't left the room through the door, she jumped, startled, and nodded frantically. "I swear, s-she didn't, n-nobody even passed through th-the hallway..."

At some point, 047 had even grabbed Undyne's armor and examined the inside, looking for any dust. If Undyne had fallen down, then had she died? But no, the inside of the armor was spotless. "Thank goodness..." 047 said, putting the armor in a corner of the room. He wouldn't have known what to do without Undyne. Having to be in charge, since the deputy he was replacing was out in vacation...it was almost overwhelming. After composing himself to face Alphys again and fulfill his role as the temporal leader, 047 returned to the reception.

He had just sat down to try to talk to Alphys again when 023 burst into the hospital reception, alarmed. "Syphus found the captain!"

"Where's she?!" The name of the monster that found her was ignored. What mattered was that she was found.

"He got her into the laboratory. Ask him, he's right behind me" he turned around to let them ask Syphus directly, but he wasn't there. It took another minutes for Syphus to arrive, almost tripping over himself. His feathers were damp with sweat.

"I can't run that fast, 023!" he protested, but he had no more time for that, 047 confronted him.

"You! Where did you find the captain?"

"She was wandering in Hotland. I was coming here to the capital when I found her" he lowered his voice "Undyne looked disoriented. I had barely taken her to Alphys' lab when she fell down. She's unconscious right now. By the way, Alphys, you left the lab door unlocked"

"O-Oh. Right. I'll...m-make sure n-not do that again" Alphys said almost inaudibly.

047 would have frowned if he had the facial features for that. Something was...off, but he couldn't pinpoint what it was. "Take us there. I want to see her"

"Follow me" Syphus accepted. At least he didn't seem reluctant to lead them to Undyne, so 047 supposed he was overthinking it all. It could just be his opinion of Syphus coloring an already bad day. The group crossed New Home in silence, got into the elevator and descended into the MTT Resort. While they passed through the resort, 047 stopped to ask a few people one single question:

"Did you see captain Undyne pass around here?"

Nobody had seen her. Somehow, Undyne had gotten from the hospital in New Home to somewhere in Hotland, and didn't use the shortest route available. It was unusual, to say the least. 047 didn't understand, how was it possible Undyne had passed through almost half of the Underground _without being seen by anyone_. It just...

...it seemed impossible, yet he couldn't find any explanation. It simply had happened.

Just like Syphus had said, Undyne was in Alphys' laboratory, left on the couch in front of the big screen to watch anime. She looked peaceful...almost peaceful. Alphys was the first to hurry to Undyne, while 023, 047 and Syphus stayed in the entrance, unsure of what to say or do. While Alphys fretted over Undyne, trying to get her to wake up, and 023 and 047 discussed what to do, Syphus hid the expression of trepidation he had on his face.

 _I better get Annie and Cohen._

 ** _CHECK IN ZERO MOVES._**

 ** _CHECK._**

* * *

 **SOCIAL LINKS:**

 **Fool - Frisk - RANK 5**

 **Magician - Burgerpants - RANK 2**

 **Priestess - Alphys - RANK 4**

 **Empress - Toriel - RANK 2**

 **Emperor - Cohen - RANK 4**

 **Hierophant - Ciruel - RANK 2**

 **Lovers - ? - RANK 0**

 **Chariot - Ananas - RANK 5**

 **Justice - Undyne - RANK 4**

 **Hermit - ? - RANK 0**

 **Fortune - ? - RANK 0**

 **Strength - ? - RANK 0**

 **Hanged Man - ? - RANK 0**

 **Death - Cornio - RANK 2**

 **Temperance - ? - RANK 0**

 **Devil - ? - RANK 0**

 **Tower - ? - RANK 0**

 **Star - Lucia - RANK 2**

 **Moon - ? - RANK 0**

 **Sun - Papyrus - RANK 3**

 **Judgment - Team - RANK 2**

 **Aeon - Syphus - RANK 3**

 **Jester - Alphonse - RANK 2**


	27. Undyne's SOUL

**To find the one true path, one must seek guidance amidst uncertainty...**

* * *

It took a while to be able to bring Ananas and Cohen to Alphys' laboratory. It would have been impossible if it wasn't for the armors Toriel had made for them. Thanks to them, the humans were able to pass through the many guards that were wandering around Alphys' laboratory. The disguises Ciruel had made for them weren't too bad, but neither Syphus nor Cohen thought it'd fool a Royal Guard for long. Once the two humans entered the laboratory, Alphys closed the door behind them while Syphus brought the weapons.

Undyne had been moved to the foldable bed in the second floor of the laboratory. When Ananas saw her, she froze, looking at her with aghast expression. "Undyne? She...she was attacked?"

"I almost can't believe this monster's now unconscious. Guess she wasn't that good" Cohen growled. Syphus tapped with his fist Cohen's back, and when the old man turned around, Syphus gestured at Alphys with his head. "Oh. Right...I'm sorry, doctor"

"I-It's okay..." Alphys said, not sounding happy at all. Once the team got all their weapons and made sure to be wearing their armors, she brought chairs for them. "So...what's the plan?"

"The usual: search for Undyne, defeat her Shadow, gather the materials..." Syphus gave the protective ring to Cohen "I don't see why this time it'll be different"

Ananas hooked a bauble to her hat to increase her strength. "Undyne is a monster. Does that mean her SOUL will be like Alphys' SOUL?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Cohen asked.

"Monsters and human SOULs are similar, except for one thing. You'll see once we're there" Syphus sat and took out the brooch, hooking it to Undyne's clothes "Please don't let anyone come here, Alphys. We'll try to get done with this as soon as possible"

"G-Got it" Alphys said. Syphus made a SAVE point and after making sure Cohen and Ananas were touching him, he activated the brooch, entering Undyne's SOUL.

-ooooo-

"Is everyone prepared?"

While Cohen and Ananas woke up, Syphus prepared his Personas and analyzed the environment. The cold gray stone underneath them was a good hint of where they were right now, and if that wasn't enough, the large building nearby was another hint. Cohen slowly stood up, his bones creaking. "Okay, I think—I think I'm ready"

"Uh, I'm not ready! Where's my armor?" Ananas looked around as if she had dropped it somewhere. For some reason nobody had their armor on. It took a moment for them to realize that, despite the armor not being visible, they felt protected. Once all the preparations were finished, Cohen looked up at the castle.

"What's this place?"

"That's the royal castle at New Home"

"That's Undyne's most important place?"

Syphus looked around and pushed them urgently towards a corner, lowering his voice. "No, it must be the headquarters. Of course that'd be it, she's the captain of the Royal Guard! She must be somewhere in there!"

Cohen made Ananas step back onto the shade. He couldn't see anything outside, but he felt the presence of something nearby – or more accurately: many somethings. "So we're going to have to go around blindly in a place we don't know anything about"

"No, I have been here before. Follow me and you'll be okay" after gesturing Cohen and Ananas to be as silent as possible, they started going around the perimeter of the castle, eyeing the tall passageway that led directly into the castle. "If I remember right, that part there leads to the throne room, so the way to the Royal Guard headquarters should be...in that direction?" he pointed towards the base of the castle

"Are you sure?" Ananas asked, not liking the doubt in Syphus' voice.

"I'm not completely familiar yet with this area. It doesn't matter. What we need to find is how to find Undyne. She must be somewhere in there"

"Then let's go!" she tried to step out of the shade of the wall, but Cohen held her back. "What? Let's get going"

"Shut up and look up" Cohen hissed, making her stick to the wall again. Ananas, unsure what Cohen meant, obeyed and immediately recoiled, barely managing to hold back a gasp of fear.

There were Shadows flying around the headquarters and New Home, looking around like patrols. They were Angels, to be more precise. Despite the blindfolds over all the Angels' eyes, the team had no doubt those Shadows could see without any problems. It was unlikely the team could just run by and hope to not be seen. "Why are there so many angels?"

"...of course it'd be Angels. The most basic form of the Justice arcana...of course they had to be here" Syphus muttered to himself.

"There are too many! We can't fight all of them!"

"Let's get in before they see us" Cohen suggested. Thankfully, the ground wasn't nearly as occupied as the air, as long as the team kept a low profile they'd be able to go towards the entrance to the headquarters. The gates to that section of the castle were wide open, entering wouldn't be a problem – if it weren't for the fact they'd need to step away from the wall to get to the gates. If the Angels noticed them, it was likely all the Shadows in the vicinity would rain upon them with vengeance. "I dunno if I can run fast enough" Cohen said with worry.

"We're going to have to try. Are you two ready?"

"I can do it" Ananas informed, making sure her gun was secured to its holster. Trying to find the right moment to run, Syphus got to the edge of the shade of the wall, looking up at the Angels. None of them were looking down, but it was a space of around thirty meters to the gates. What were the odds they wouldn't be seen by any of those Shadows?

"On the count of three..." at the agreed signal, the team ran forward without looking up, but it was hard to ignore the thick drops of oil and slime that started raining in the area. As soon as the drops splashed onto the stone floor, they started writhing, trying to trap the team's feet. Cohen and Ananas passed by without much trouble, but Syphus made the mistake of doubting his moves, which ended in him stepping right into one of the ink puddles. A hand grabbed his ankle, making him fall to the floor. Syphus fell on his belly, barely managing to stop his fall with the hand that wasn't holding the halberd. "Help!"

"Get it done, Ajax!" he heard Cohen shout. The crackle of electricity filled the air, a bolt of lightning hit the puddle that had grabbed Syphus. The hand retracted, giving him just enough time to bolt forward beyond the rest of the puddles. Cohen's Persona vanished when Syphus reached him and Ananas "Are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah, just a bit shaken up—"

"Watch out!" Ananas raised her gun and shot, a warning shot for the Shadow that was slithering towards them. The Shadow yelped and backed off, reuniting with the rest. There still were dozens of Angels flying high in the air, but thankfully none of them started collapsing into ink. Those that already had melted started joining together, bubbling and started to pile up. "Run!"

"What's going on?" at least Cohen didn't stand around, he kept running while he asked that question. It was going to be his first fight against a Shadow, but even though he was raring to go, he didn't want to step on the leader's toes. The team crossed the gates and got onto the hall that led into the Royal Guard headquarters, but the Shadows didn't back off. Instead it finished taking its new shape, a form Syphus had grown to loathe. _Not another one of those Knights!_

The Champion Knight wasn't the exact same variety than the Intrepid Knight they had encountered in Cohen's SOUL, but it was not to be underestimated anyway. The Champion Knight raised its spear, charging at them. The floating horse would have run over Ananas if Cohen hadn't pulled her back, preparing himself for the fight. "What's the plan, Syphus?"

"Electricity, try that! Annie, get ready to hit hard!"

"Got it!" there wasn't time for long strategy talks. Cohen summoned his Persona and aimed for the top of the Shadow's head, impacting it with an electric spell, a loud metallic screech filling the air. The Knight didn't even have time to recover before Hippolyta's axe hit it right on its chest, forcing the Knight to hold onto the reins to not fall down.

"That's it, keep going!" Syphus stood near Ananas, intending to shield her if necessary. Her bullets impacted against the Knight's steed, actually managing to pierce its armor, forcing the Knight to back down more and more towards the wall "Corner it!" Not wanting to be pushed into a dead end, the Knight charged energy, its spear glowing with a menacing aura. With a roar of rage, it moved to a side, dodging Ananas' bullets and Ajax's sword, lunging straight towards Syphus. He barely had time to summon Ara Mitama and raise the halberd to defend himself before the spear reached the target, colliding against the red teardrop that was Syphus' current Persona.

It was as if he was hit with a particularly large pillow. One moment he was bracing himself for impact, the next moment a blunt hit launched him in the air until he crashed against a wall. The crash was much more painful than the attack. Syphus fell to the floor, but got to his feet as fast as possible, expecting the Knight to take advantage of the moment of weakness.

The Knight wasn't able to move. Cohen directed Ajax to slam the Knight's horse, a loud noise of metal against metal reverberating in the walls of the headquarters lobby. Cohen jumped onto the hindquarters of the horse armor, climbing and standing up, punching mercilessly the back of the Knight's head. To avoid shooting Cohen, Ananas changed her strategy and used fire spells, balls of fire scorching the Knight. It was groaning, not having any attacks to use without being even more vulnerable, until it slipped off its horse, slumping on the ground. "It's over!" Syphus ran, jumped in the air and thrusted the spear point of his halberd into the Knight's back. An audible crack, a burst of black smoke, and the entire Shadow dissolved, black and red particles dissipating in the air. Syphus let the halberd fall to the floor and stretched, feeling the pain in his back. "That one really hurt..."

"Are you okay?" Cohen asked, rubbing his knuckles.

"I'm fine. This kind of thing happens all the time"

Ananas, grinning from ear to ear, ran to them. "That was easy! We defeated one of those things, we have gotten stronger!"

"That one was a weaker variant, weaker than the one we fought in Cohen's SOUL" Syphus said, but when Ananas' grin disappeared, he hurried to add "But it's pretty good we managed to defeat it! That's a feat!"

"So now what? You know the inside of this place?" Cohen stared into where they'd be walking now. Beyond the lobby there was a twisting hallway, nothing like the short and straight one from reality.

"...um...a bit? I mean, I don't know where's every single room, but I should be able to guide you. The problem is to find Undyne"

"She could be in her office"

"That'd be on the top of the castle, right?" Ananas pointed upwards "That's where important people are, on the top part of buildings"

"No, her office isn't too far from the entrance, so she'd be..." Syphus started saying, but slowly his voice trailed off, he frowned "...or maybe that's wrong. She may not be in her office. It's weird Undyne's SOUL takes the form of _the whole castle_ instead of just the headquarters"

"Why's that strange?"

"Your SOUL not only had the village, it also had a lot of Waterfall, and you were at Undyne's house. I had thought you'd be at the village, I ignored how your SOUL had created a large place. What if that's what's happening here? That Undyne isn't where she'd obviously be, but at a different place?"

Ananas made a face of confusion. "I don't get it"

"You wanted to face Undyne, so that's what your Shadow was. Undyne's house wasn't near the Hidden Village, so Waterfall was created. If that's what's happening here, then this whole castle is between where Undyne _should_ be, and where she _actually_ is"

Cohen made a grumble Syphus interpreted as a sign he understood. "Okay, then what's this place she's at? What's near here?"

"There's only one place I can think that's near the headquarters and you need to pass through the castle to get to" Syphus grabbed his halberd, making sure it was a sharp as ever "Get ready, you two:

We're going to the Barrier"

-ooooo-

"You said you could guide us there!"

"I thought I could!"

Syphus hadn't expected Undyne's SOUL to be so labyrinthine. Hallways that shouldn't have taken more than ten seconds to cross in the real Underground now were passageways that'd take several minutes to traverse. Staircases and tunnels littered the place. Right now the team had stumbled upon the sixth copy of the cafeteria – so far - facing several Reckless Okina they had accidentally caused to appear. The Shadows advanced, moving with the stone pillars they were settled onto. "I got this!" Ananas stood in front of Cohen and commanded her Persona to use fire on all the Shadows. The fire clung to the Okinas' clothing, but also made all of the enemies turn their attention towards her. One of the Okinas pointed at her with a pillar, mumbling something incomprehensible, a dark purple mist emanating from it. In a second Ananas' pupils reduced to pinpricks and she fell on her knees, looking at the Okinas with apprehension, completely defenseless.

"She's despairing!" Cohen shouted at Syphus.

There was no time to waste. Either they finished the fight immediately, or Ananas would die soon, even if nobody attacked her. In a desperate move, Syphus changed Personas. Since Undyne's SOUL was so full of angels, why not to counter with a stronger divine being? His bond with Undyne had given Principality a decent boost in power. Principality extended its wings, lifted its staff and made a large glyph appear on the floor, shining brightly. _Please work, please, let this work...!_

They got lucky. A large pillar of light emerged from the glyph, enveloping all the Okinas, they wailed loudly. Once the Shadows got destroyed, when the light vanished there was no trace of them left. Cohen hurried to where Ananas was kneeling down and staring into nothingness. "Annie? Annie, calm down" She didn't react at all.

"How's she?"

"She's not listening!"

Syphus looked away, having to see Ananas like that was really unsettling to him. Despair was no kidding matter. If not countered soon, she'd die soon. Syphus changed his Persona to the current designated healer and used the right magic, a bright green light enveloping Ananas. She gasped, taking in as much air as possible, looking very pale. "Are you okay now, Annie?"

"...I was hearing something...those Shadows were saying I was doomed..." she pulled her hat down her head as much as possible "I don't want to hear that ever again"

"You won't. Stay with us, we'll get going" Since it seemed Ananas would be okay, the team looked at both sides of the hallway, orientating themselves before restarting the search for the way towards the rest of the castle.

"If the next place we get into is a cafeteria again I'm going to punch a wall" Cohen grumbled.

"But we found coffee and other stuff, we need that for healing"

"Syphus has that covered already. We need to get out, not to start carrying a ton of cof—" There simply was no time to rest. Cohen didn't even finish his sentence before a noise like scrapping metal echoed deeper into the hallway. The team stopped, raising their weapons and expecting a threatening figure to appear "...what was that?"

"Can't be anything good" Syphus said. Going back the way they came from wasn't an option, it'd obviously not lead to the place they needed to go, and cornering themselves in one of the cafeterias and courtyards was a bad idea. The hallway, despite being narrow, at least gave them the option to run away if the fight went pear-shaped. From beyond the corner, the incoming Shadow appeared.

The Indignant Machine was clearly out of the team's league. A hasty analysis revealed it'd resist literally everything they could do. _We're outmatched!_ But retiring without at least trying was something they didn't want to do, that'd mean getting further away from their objective.

Cohen and Syphus, being the strongest physically, dared to attack at close range, punching and trying to cleave the coating of the Machine with the halberd. Just like he had found out, they were doing almost no damage, not even making scratches on the metal coat. Meanwhile, Ananas was attacking with fire, aiming at the head, at the strange straw additions to the top of the mecha.

For a moment the Machine looked at them, evaluating how to hit them the hardest, and raised a fist, extending the fingers towards all of them, the fingertips glowing with a bright light. The attack was fulminating. The whole team felt like dozens of tiny fists pummeled their torsos and backs, beating them up and stopping them from moving, chance the Machine used to grab Cohen and Syphus and throw them towards Ananas.

"No!" Ananas couldn't move before Cohen crashed against her, making her fall to the floor. In a heap, none of them could move. The Machine advanced inexorably, rumbling and raising its arm, swinging it towards the group, trying to bludgeon them. Cohen, shouting with outrage, barely managed to stand up and catch the arm with his hands.

"Get out of here!" he yelled to the others.

"Of course not!" Syphus did crawl back, but before starting to run he grabbed the back of Cohen's shirt and pulled, getting him out from under the arm and letting it crack the stone of the floor.

"We're not going to fight?!" Ananas yelled during the retreat "We have to keep going! It's that way—"

The Indignant Machine pointed at them with its palms, a bright light shining in them, a crawling sensation was felt underneath the team's skins. Syphus recognized it, he had felt it with Shadow Cohen: the Machine had removed any resistances he had. In quick succession, it also made Ananas not resist fire and Cohen not resist electricity. _You have to be kidding me!_ Panicked, Syphus changed Personas, hoping to get away from the Machine's neutralizing skills, but it was useless. No matter which one he chose, the Machine always managed to disable his resistances.

"We have to get away now!" Cohen urged while Syphus returned to Principality "Syphus, do something!"

"I-I'm thinking, I'm thinking!" Syphus made the large angel appear behind him, extending his staff towards the Machine, hoping to shut it up so it wouldn't be able to do anything. For a moment a large X shone on its face, before the Machine slumped over, immobile. For a moment the team waited, ready to move at the first sign of movement, but after a minute they started to get antsy "...it can't be that easy...!"

"Did we win?" Ananas peeked from behind Cohen, eyeing the Machine warily. The old man, making his knuckles crack, waited for a few seconds, expecting the machine to make a move, but it still didn't move.

"...looks like we did. Let's take the chance and go past it"

It was the only chance they'd have. Cohen started leading the group to a side, trying to give the Machine wide berth, but when they got close the Machine started trembling. Fearing it was about stand up and start again its onslaught, Cohen made everyone back off, but it didn't attack. What happened was nothing any of them would have imagined.

Slowly, the Indignant Machine started folding into itself. Shadows were emotions given form, and since Personas were tamed Shadows, it wasn't impossible for a Shadow to form a primitive Persona in an environment like a monster SOUL. That was why, not having any option other than surrender, the Indignant Machine turned into the form it had before it started lashing out.

The enormous mecha folded into a Persona not much bigger than Syphus' head. A small feminine form, with thin delicate wings, and pale spiky hair. If Syphus hadn't known any better he'd have thought it had come straight out of one of Alphys' anime.

"...what...just happened?" High Pixie seemed disoriented, fluttering in the air. For a moment nobody in the team moved, trying to judge if this was a good development or not. Cohen pointed with his head, indicating Syphus to go ahead and talk.

"Keep aiming at her" Syphus whispered to Ananas and gave his halberd to Cohen, and approached High Pixie with empty hands. If he was attacked maybe he'd be able to summon his Persona before he was too hurt? "Uh...hello. We—We come with peaceful intentions"

"Peaceful intentions? This is weird...you're not Shadows, right?" High Pixie ignored Syphus and flew higher in the air to take a better look at the other two humans "You're...humans?"

"It's a long story. We're looking for Undyne"

"Undyne? _Captain_ Undyne? What for?"

 _Captain Undyne? What's this pixie supposed to represent?_ The Angels weren't too hard to guess what they could be, but the High Pixie was likely to be something completely different. At least she seemed cooperative enough. "We need to find her, that's all. Where's she?"

"Can't you say pleeeeeease?"

"Where's she?" _There's no time for pleasantries!_

"Okay, okay, calm down" although High Pixie didn't sound particularly bothered, black sparks emanated from her back. Fearing he was pushing it too hard and maybe causing High Pixie to explode into the Indignant Machine again, Syphus cringed and apologized.

"We just want to talk with her, nothing more than that. Can you please help us?"

"I'll help you, okay, but we need help too. Everything's been rough lately, yes?" High Pixie spread her arms wide open "It's Captain Undyne's fault. She's at the Barrier. That's where she's been for a looooong time now. But there's a problem, a tiny problem here. You want to know?"

"Darn it, that thing's annoying..." Cohen mumbled to Ananas, who didn't reply.

"There's someone in her office, thrashing the whole place – and nobody can get it out. If you kick it out, then I'll open the way to the Barrier. Alright?"

Syphus return to Cohen and Ananas, unsure. "I don't know, I'm not sure about this. I'd rather to go straight to the Barrier"

"She said she'd _open_ the way. We _can't_ get there" Cohen pointed. Ananas, without stopping aiming at High Pixie, agreed with Cohen.

That was how the team soon was following High Pixie towards where Undyne's office was located. High Pixie's presence seemed to be enough to make other Shadows be calm enough to let them pass through without incident. Even though there were crowds of Angels and Archangels, they all left them alone, not even paying attention to them. The more the team advanced into the depths of the headquarters, the more ruinous it looked. An oppressive atmosphere filled the hallway, less and less Angels were encountered along the way.

High Pixie hovered over a large piece of debris on the floor, looking at the pitch black hole in the ceiling. "This place wasn't like this until that Shadow locked itself into Captain Undyne's office..."

"Really? How was this place before _?"_ Ananas asked, lowering her guard for a moment. It didn't seem like High Pixie had any ill intentions anymore, after all. While High Pixie told Ananas about the bright place that used to be Undyne's SOUL, Syphus' mind wandered away. It was all kind of abstract, but if that place was formed by Undyne's SOUL... _What kind of Shadow did Undyne's emotions create?_

When the team and High Pixie approached further down the hallway, climbing over piles of rubble and trying to look far into the corridor, they started hearing what sounded like a very large creature rampaging not too far away. They could see a door, one Syphus recognized. "That's Undyne's office. Are you all ready?"

"Wait, is she coming with us?" Ananas glanced at High Pixie.

"No no no! I can't do it! You—you guys look strong enough. You go do it, I'll watch"

Cohen made sure the ring on his finger was well placed, and glared at the door as if his stare was going to make whatever was inside cower in fear. "We don't need her, so let's get this done already!"

"Okay. Get behind me" Syphus grabbed the doorknob "I'm going to open it when I count to three. When I do, barge in. Be ready to summon your Persona" he raised his free hand, showing three fingers. Slowly, he lowered one by one slowly until there were no fingers, and opened the door wide open.

The team barged in, hoping to catch by surprise whatever Shadow was inside. The office was in disarray, there was almost nothing intact. Undyne didn't keep the office immaculately organized, but her mess was comforting, personable. The office in her SOUL was chaotic, many objects were broken and strewn around. Piles of paper covered the stone floor, the shelf covered with gifts from the guards had been taken apart and everything on it had been smashed to pieces. And there it was, on the desk, ripping apart with its fangs a particularly thick ledger, the Shadow that had invaded the core of Undyne's SOUL – besides her Shadow Self.

Orthrus was a rather large beast. If it had been in the Underground, many would have thought it was one monster more, but there in Undyne's SOUL it was more akin to an invading presence. Large, imposing, with two heads and a big mane, the ochre canine bared the fangs of both heads at the team. "What be meaning of this?!" it growled.

"Get out!" Ananas demanded, raising her gun towards Orthrus.

"Me? Get out? No." and it continued ripping apart the binder.

Cohen, approached and, in a reckless move, pushed away the desk, making Orthrus stand up. "Who you think you are to tell me what to do?" it jumped down the desk, trying to pounce on Cohen, Cohen jumped bac, raising his fist. "Wait...me know what you are. You humans! You are what Captain Undyne needs!"

"Step back!" Syphus blocked the way to Cohen with his halberd, glaring at Orthrus. The beast paid no attention to him, focused only on Cohen and Ananas.

"Captain Undyne needs SOULs...for her...me rip SOULs out of you!"

There was no time to ponder what exactly Orthrus represented. From its back, a large crack formed, dividing Orthrus from its tail to the base of its neck. With a resounding crack, a burst of smoke emerged from its back, the halves of Orthrus falling apart and dissolving to form the Shadow it barely repressed inside its former shape. _Th-That is...!_ Surprised, Syphus lowered his halberd involuntarily.

The Shadow was long, green, reptilian. A thick coat of white feathers covered the scales of its body, long claws on the tips of its fingers. It was undoubtedly some kind of reptile, vaguely resembling a snake, even though the feathers made it look much more harmless than it actually was, almost cuddly.

"Syphus...why does that look a bit like you when you have that brooch on?" Ananas whispered, trembling a bit. The Shadow had much many feathers compared to Syphus, but there was enough resemblance for her to say that. It even had the same dopey face.

"We'll talk later! Attack!" Syphus recovered and analyzed the opponent. The Shadow stood on its rear legs, barely managing to stand, and roared.

 **Zealous Lung**

 _Specializes in ice and curses._

The Zealous Lung raised its claws to the air and roared again towards the roof, a purple circle forming underneath Cohen. He barely jumped out of the way before it shone, mist covering the spot he had been standing at. "If that attack hits you you'll be a goner!" Syphus shouted, having recognized the spell – Ouroboros had a similar one. Cohen didn't reply, he focused on getting Ajax to increase Ananas' defense.

She was going to take her role as main attacker, so she made sure to buff her strength and started shooting, the Lung falling off the desk both because of the bullets and because it was going to attack. Furious, it lunged at Ananas, Hippolyta blocking the attack with her axe and keeping the Shadow away. The Lung clawed at the axe, trying to climb over it, chance Cohen used to punch the Lung on its side, over and over.

The Lung, noting it'd be useless to attack physically, changed strategies, jumping back on the desk and coiling on itself, grumbling, the feathers fluffing up. Ice formed over everybody, covering almost their entire bodies, and exploded in a cloud of frost, moment the Lung used to strike. While they all recoiled from the Bufula spell, the Lung bolted forward and grabbed Syphus from his shirt, lifting him in the air and slamming him against the floor.

"That's enough!" Cohen's Persona struck the Lung with lightning. The Lung roared, made a feint to pursue Cohen but seemed to think it better, instead roaring at the ceiling again, a red light surrounding the Shadow. Syphus quickly analyzed it.

"Watch out! It's attacks will be stronger for a while!"

"Fire!" Ananas demanded, missing the attack and scorching the wall. The Lung grabbed the desk, raised it over its head and threw it at the team, Hippolyta having to slice it with its axe to avoid injuries.

It was going to take a while to beat the Lung unless stronger measures got taken. Taking a risk, Syphus chose Black Ooze as his Persona, a rather weak one that'd leave him defenseless. _I just need a moment...!_ "Get ready, guys!"

"Just do it!" Cohen threw pieces of the desk at the Lung, trying to keep it busy. The Zealous Lung swatted the pieces of desk away, turning them into splinters in one hit. Ananas shot without aiming, missing every bullet, doing the same than Cohen.

 _I have to focus...!_ In front of Syphus a bunch of black slime appeared, rising like a nasty flan.

"We're not going to keep it back for much longer!"

"Rakunda!" Syphus commanded, reducing the Lung's defense "Go!" With a scream of rage, Cohen directed Ajax to slice at the Lung, Hippolyta launching the large shelf on the wall towards the Lung with her axe.

For a few seconds all the Lung could do was try to endure the onslaught. A shelf fell on it, with its arms it tried to parry Ajax's sword, cornered against the wall. Its loud roars turned into growls, feathers shed from its body, until Cohen judged they had hit enough. "Step back" Cohen said softly to Ananas, making her stop her assault. Without their Personas' continuous assault, the Lung held against the wall for a moment, sticking to it strangely, before falling to the floor. "Did we win?"

"It looks defeated" Ananas said. Syphus approached, poking the Lung with the bottom of his halberd. The Shadow twitched, getting on its feet, trembling.

"Get out of here" Syphus ordered, but the Zealous Lung didn't move. It stayed there, hunched over, glaring at the team, until it made a decision. With a last roar, it swiped its tail towards Syphus, knocking him off his feet, but it didn't attack him further. Instead, the moment Cohen and Ananas looked away, not having expected Syphus to fall to the floor, it leaped towards Cohen, jaws wide open.

Cohen's reflexes reacted immediately. In a second, he realized what was happening and delivered the final blow. Cohen crouched slightly, raised a fist, and punched right on the side of the Lung's head, stopping it in the air and making it fall. The moment it fell, the Lung started fading away, in seconds dissolving in wisps of smoke. The team stayed there, panting and resting after the fight. "...that Shadow...it must have been born from Undyne's drive to fulfill her duty"

"What do you mean?" Ananas asked.

"Shadows are pieces of the ego, they are born from emotions and thoughts. Some very strong feelings must have made such a strong Shadow appear" Most likely it was her drive to fulfill her duty, to hunt for humans.

But if that drive created the Zealous Lung they had just defeated...then what was Shadow Undyne worried about? He had thought that'd be what'd fuel the conflict in her heart, if it wasn't that, then what was it?

"Okay, now that we're done with that thing, there's a few things you need to answer, Syphus" Cohen leaned on the wall, crossing his arms "That Shadow looked a lot like that monster disguise you use. What's up with that?"

 _Right, I should have guessed they would notice_. "I know"

"That one had a lot more feathers" Ananas vaguely said "So it's not the same Shadow you are...?"

"Wait, he's a Shadow?" Cohen looked at her with confusion "Someone's Shadow?"

"I...I'm not sure what I am. I mean, I'm a Shadow, but I don't think I'm anyone's Shadow" Better not to confuse them any further with the part about him being a piece. That surely made him a Shadow of his master, but he doubted he was Sisyphus' Shadow self.

"...I don't get it. If you're a Shadow why haven't you attacked us?"

"Don't ask me, I don't know"

Cohen stared at him for a long minute, evaluating how sincere Syphus was. Seemingly satisfied, he sighed. "I have known you for two weeks. That's not nearly enough to know a person"

"I-I'm not a bad guy, I swear!"

"Tell me, what's Alphys doing with that stuff you have gathered so far?"

"I told you, she's building something to break the Barrier"

"According to your instructions?"

Syphus thought for a moment. "No, not really. Alphys is the one who's building it, I don't know what she's doing"

That seemed to be the right answer, Cohen relaxed a bit. "Okay, alright, but you told her to do something with it. How did you know she had to make something in the first place?"

That was a question Syphus couldn't answer. He had told a lot of stuff to Cohen and Ananas, but he had never mentioned the Velvet Room or Igor to them. Those details were a bit more personal, given he was the only one who could enter the Velvet Room – as far as he knew – but saying nothing wouldn't make Cohen trust him. All he could say was... "I can't tell you"

"You can't or you don't want to?"

"I can't. I-I promised" he lied.

"Cohen? I think Syphus is good" Ananas said with way more trust than Syphus felt he deserved "He has helped me a lot! And he wants to help monsters. Good people do that, so he's a good person" _You make it sound so simple, Annie._

"Annie, not everything is that simple" he got away from the wall "But we don't have any other option than to continue. Syphus, I'll trust you for now, but I want you to promise me your intentions are good"

"I promise, I promise!" It was a tad outrageous he had to do that. He just wanted to help monsterkind and the humans from the Hidden Village, he didn't deserve to be doubted like that! _I understand why he'd suspect me, but it still sucks._

-ooooo-

High Pixie was rather elated to hear that Shadow was defeated. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! Now everything should return to normal. Someday it will. You'll see"

"We'll leave that up to you. Good luck!" Ananas said. Neither Cohen nor Syphus shared her good wishes, though.

"Now it's time for your part of the deal" Syphus said while Cohen got Ananas to prepare her gun, just in case. She complied, a bit bummed by having to aim at someone she just gave her best wishes to. High Pixie hovered higher, near the ceiling.

"You don't have to threaten me, I'll help you, I will! Just follow me, I'll take you to where Captain Undyne is" she flew down the dilapidated hallway. The team followed it until it stopped in front of a normal blank stone wall, nothing differentiating it from the rest of the hallway. High Pixie raised its hands, the wall glowing for a moment before vanishing. "There you go. You can't get lost from here on"

The passageway from there onwards was less gray than the rest of the headquarters, with large windows and imposing arches lining the hallway. The light from the windows was interrupted from time to time by Angels flying outside, still surrounding the castle. The dim lighting gave everything a more abandoned and ominous look than it actually was, Ananas seemed to be afraid of walking through the hallway. She got a bit closer to Syphus. "It's dark..."

"We'll be fine. Let's get going" Syphus thanked High Pixie and walked into the hallway, leading the way, just in case there were further dangers. His thoughts wandered to one conversation he had with Igor not long ago, though.

-ooooo-

Syphus stared at the angelic Persona he had just created with Alphonse. "Your bond with Undyne has given Principality a boost" Alphonse informed "Well done"

"Thanks! This'll be useful" the Persona vanished, immersing into Syphus' mind. There was something he wanted to ask, now that he was there. Syphus turned to Igor. "I'm sorry for asking, but you know what I am, right?"

Igor nodded. "Indeed I know...it's customary for us to be aware of such details of our guests"

"...am I a Shadow?"

For a moment Igor didn't reply. He didn't tend to intervene in his guests' journeys, even though he had a wealth of information. That was what near omniscience did, however, it was his and his master's belief that the guests needed to solve the problems of their journeys by themselves, without his aid. Was it right of him to answer?

"...yes. You are indeed a Shadow, a mere fragment from someone's ego"

"And that someone is my master, isn't he? The witch. Sisyphus"

"That's correct. You may not be his Shadow Self, but you...you were given part of that person's SOUL, part of the very core of his being. That should have given you access to his emotions, his memories, a form identical to the former state of his body...giving you an ego of your own, similar to his.

It could be said you're now his Shadow Self, even though you weren't originally"

That's all Syphus was, a fragment from his master's ego. The form the brooch allowed him to have in front of monsters was his previous form, recalled by the brooch's magic. "I see. Why does that brooch give me back my form, even if it's just an illusion?"

"I cannot say with certainty. However, I have theories about the workings of such curious object" he looked at the brooch pinned to Syphus' clothes "That brooch allows you and your teammates to traverse the SOULs of monsters and humans, and it's not supposed to have any other function. Have you ever wondered why, even though you activate the brooch while you're wearing it, the form everyone sees is an illusion that shows how you used to be?"

"I...you're right, that's odd"

"That may be because you don't have a complete SOUL to traverse. The piece of SOUL you have inside isn't enough to allow you access its depths. The brooch wasn't made to deal with a fragment of a SOUL inside an otherwise empty being such as you, but it tries to fulfill its function, and in the process...it shows an intangible image of your true form to the world"

Syphus's hands balled into fists. The thought he wasn't even his own person was distressing. He knew he was just a piece, but he had believed he could be something else. He tried hard to stay optimistic, though, giving a rather fake smile. "My master's friend truly thought of everything! How did she know the brooch would do that to me?"

"What makes you think you were supposed to wear that thing in the first place?" Alphonse intervened, making Igor and Syphus look at them.

"But it was given to me so I could disguise myself, I thought that was clear"

"No. That brooch is just so you can enter SOULs. **You were never supposed to wear it** " Alphonse's voice softened, their expression turned kinder "You're lucky nothing bad happened"

For a moment Syphus stared at Alphonse, surprised by the revelation, and then he hid his face with his hands. The brooch wasn't meant to be a disguise; it was just a tool for his task, yet he had been extremely lucky and obtained a disguise. It was the kind of coincidence that only happened in the most impossible of circumstances: one that only happened to a complete fool that'd be dead otherwise. "I-I see..."

"As your aid to fulfill your journey, allow me to say something" Igor said "It's true you're just a Shadow for the moment. However, you don't have to be a Shadow forever. You have the option to be more than that, to truly be your own person, different than your master, if you so desire"

"Really? Can a Shadow be a real person?"

"There are precedents. You wouldn't be the first Shadow who turns into more than that" he chuckled "I await to see what path you'll take...but please remember this: You may be your master's piece, but that doesn't mean you don't have autonomy. Take your own decisions, and carve your own path. The contract says it all:

 **I chooseth this fate of mine own free will"**

ooooo-

"Snap out of it, Syphus!"

Cohen's voice made Syphus snap out of his thoughts. He blinked a few times, groggy. "Uh? W-What...?"

"There's the throne room"

He was right. They had just left behind a bright, golden hallway, and arrived to a large doorway that'd led to where Syphus remembered the throne room would be located. Would Asgore be inside? That was impossible, but there was always a chance a Shadow representing the king would be in there. "Annie, can you please lie down on the floor and look inside?"

"Got it!" Ananas threw herself to the floor and crawled until she was at the entrance, looking inside with attention. The throne room was dark, she had to stare for a moment to see into the darkness. A carpet of golden flowers covered the floor, the walls had vines on them, and two empty thrones were positioned in the center of the room. Even though Ananas couldn't see everything clearly thanks to the dim light outside, she couldn't see any Shadows nor 'Personas'. "Um, I think there are no outlaws in here"

"Outlaws? You mean Shadows?"

"Yes, that! It's empty"

Cohen was the next to enter, to verify what Ananas said. Once he made sure no foe was inside, he beckoned Syphus inside. "The Barrier is that way?" he pointed at the doorway at the back of the throne room. Syphus nodded, so the team slowly entered, keeping their weapons high and their ears sharpened. There was no sound at all other than their steps echoing, but the further they went, after passing through another purple arch, they saw something in the distance. _Barrier, we meet again._

It was identical to what Syphus remembered seeing two weeks ago, a large iridescent film blocking the way out of the cavern. Beyond that, you could see part of the sky, but it was cloudy, without much light, something not fitting at all the image of freedom monsterkind wanted to reach. Something about that sky seemed a bit familiar to Syphus, but he chalked it up to a longing to see the sky again. How long ago had been the last time, after all?

In front of the Barrier there was a silhouette Syphus recognized. It was Undyne, wearing her armor and with her back turned towards them. She had her hand on the Barrier. When the team approached, she seemed to have noticed them, because she started talking. "...seven"

"...what?" Cohen murmured.

"Seven human souls...with the power of seven human souls, our king, king Asgore Dreemurr will become a god. With that power, our king can shatter the barrier. He'll take the surface back from humanity, and give them back the suffering and pain we have endured..." she punched the barrier with a lot of force "And now, we finally have the chance to achieve that goal. After centuries, humans fell into the Underground! We can take their souls and break the Barrier once and for all!" she turned around. Her eye looked normal.

Cohen, not intimidated at all, pointed at her. "We're not letting you take any human's SOUL!" The outburst was ignored, though. Undyne continued her monologue.

"But then I met that child. They were merciful, even though I tried to kill them! And then they had the gall to befriend me, and I...I accepted. We're going to be besties! Me, best friends with a human, even though not long before I tried to claim their soul! Now I'm in trouble because I don't know what to do. What's more important? The lives of a few humans or the lives of all monsterkind? I...

...I can't decide!"

"You can't...decide?" Ananas asked hesitantly. Was this good or bad?

"I don't want to harm that human, nor any other. Their lives, their hopes and dreams, they're as important as ours! But I also can't leave monsterkind trapped. What's the right choice? Because if I act now, looks like I'll be able to take the souls of four humans instead of just one" she raised her hands, pleading "So tell me what I must do. Just leave monsterkind to die trapped here?

What's the right choice?"

There wasn't really a right answer to that question. The most benign option was to let monsters take the human's souls once the humans died from natural causes at an advanced age, but would monsters last the decades that'd be needed for that to happen? What if they all despaired and succumbed, wiping monsterkind? The team stared at Undyne, unsure of what to say, but silence was the one thing she didn't want. The more time passed, the more enraged she looked, baring her teeth. "Well?! What do you all think?!"

"We, uh, we..." Ananas stammered.

"You see now?" Undyne raised her palm "There's no way anyone will give their souls for us to shatter the Barrier! We're all stuck in the same situation, no matter what we do, someone will suffer!"

What was more important? The lives of a few humans or the lives of hundreds, maybe a thousand monsters? Even more, one of the three humans Undyne was aware of now was someone she considered a friend. She couldn't just kill them and take their SOUL! And that was what troubled Undyne, having to choose between fulfilling her duty and work to save monsterkind, and spare her friend and any other human she encountered, even if their souls were the way to shatter the Barrier.

For a moment the team and Undyne stared at each other tensely, unsure what to say. Undyne turned back to the Barrier, punching it with strength, her armor clacking. Undyne sighed, hanging her head. "I just want to know what to do. I thought I could talk it with everyone, but I couldn't even leave Alphys' lab...I think I fainted. It's like everything's telling me not to try anything. And if I talk about this with Asgore, he's going to be disappointed. War is war! We can't afford to flake!"

The Barrier shimmered for a moment, rippling like water before tendrils emerged from where Undyne's gauntlet made contact with the Barrier, wrapping around her hand. She didn't seem to notice. "I just want to save monsterkind, but I can't just sacrifice someone to do that, right?!"

The tendrils snaked upwards in Undyne's arm. Recognizing what this could mean, Syphus tried to approach. "Undyne, step away from the Barrier!" she ignored him. He had advanced just a few feet when the tendrils started pulling Undyne into the Barrier. "Undyne!"

Cohen ran past Syphus, grabbing Undyne from the shoulders and trying to pull her away, but the tendrils from the Barrier swatted his hands away, sounding like whips. "Ah-!" he barely had time to gasp before more tendrils emerged, grabbing him from the wrists and throwing him down the slope. He was able to stop himself from rolling down. "What's going on?!"

"It's her Shadow! It's inside the Barrier!" Just like it in turn had been inside a SAVE point for Frisk and inside Undyne's house for Ananas, it seemed the form Undyne's Shadow had taken was the Barrier. As if it had heard what Syphus said, it turned Undyne around, lifting her in the air and moving her like a puppet. Her eye had changed, the yellow turning into black, the black yellow.

"...what I must do...is do my job...I'm the captain...shatter the Barrier no matter the cost...gather the human souls..."

Ananas tried to approach but Syphus and Cohen stopped her. "Let me go! We have to help her!" she pleaded.

"It's too late. She's been caught already" Syphus weighed the halberd in his hands without looking away from Undyne "We're going to have to fight"

"...I can't abandon monsterkind...for the sake of our future...I'll gather the souls...even if they belong to someone I know...that's what I must do no matter what!" Shadow Undyne shouted before being pulled through the Barrier, right behind the iridescent film. Her silhouette contorted, shaken like a ragdoll, until it stopped.

For a moment nothing happened, the silhouette of Undyne simply floated there, immobile. Only when the team started to approach to try to see what could be done to get Undyne out of there, Undyne started changing. Her silhouette started expanding, taking squarer shapes. She was transforming into an entirely different thing, much larger than anyone in the team. The new silhouette stopped after almost reaching the roof of the cavern, and started advancing forward. From the Barrier a steel foot appeared, black, square and shiny. It slammed against the rocky floor with a boom, leaving an imprint. Shadow Undyne stepped forward again, revealing itself, huge and imposing.

The two mechas the team had fought in SOULs before had been large, but Shadow Undyne dwarfed them all. Her interest in anime seemed to have influenced the form her Shadow had just taken. The mecha, black and blue and kind of resembling her with her full armor, had what seemed to be cannons inserted into its arms and hands. The right arm's cannon had lots of spears as if they were bullets, ready to attack. On her back there was a large contraption, like a lightning rod with a large green orb at the end, the contraption was so heavy the mecha was hunched over, looking like it was ready to pounce on the team.

"I HAVE NO NEED TO THINK ANYTHING. ALL I HAVE TO DO. IS COMPLETE MY DUTY. GATHER HUMAN SOULS. I WILL TAKE YOUR SOULS! FOR THE KING! FOR MONSTERS' FREEDOM!" it shouted, its voice distorted. Syphus analyzed the foe, just in case.

 **Shadow Undyne, Justice Arcana. No information available.**

"We have no time to discuss this. Let's fight!" Cohen readied, summoning his Persona and immediately increased Ananas' defense. With Ajax and Hippolyta as close range fighters, Syphus focused on hitting from a distance, using Ara Mitama's magic to reduce Shadow Undyne's power. They needed all the advantages they needed, anything so their foe didn't defeat them immediately!

Shadow Undyne jumped in the air, crashing through the rock ceiling. For a moment everyone could only see dust, bits of rocks fell down, all they could do was cover their heads and hope no big piece of rock would fall on them. "Where is that thing?!" Ananas tried to look through the dust, but there was no trace of Shadow Undyne. No booming steps, no metallic sounds, it was as if it was gone.

The only warning they had was a wooshing sound coming from upwards. Feeling danger, Syphus jumped back, a volley of spears piercing the place where he had been just moments ago. _That's dangerous!_ "Is everyone okay?" Syphus hoped he had been the only one attacked. The sound of rock being shattered by strong spears filled the room, getting further away from Syphus. Cohen screamed in pain. "Cohen!"

"I-I'm okay!" He didn't sound okay. Running to the wall of the cave, Syphus changed to a Persona that could heal and tried to look through the dust, it was settling down already. Cohen, seeing Syphus, turned to Ananas, who was nearby and crouching, and told her to run towards him. "Get going! I'll get that robot's attention!"

Thankfully, Ananas obeyed, pressing herself onto the wall when Shadow Undyne crashed onto the floor, tremors shaking the area, more rocks falling. "Fire!" Ananas attacked, a large ball of blaze hitting Shadow Ananas in the chest, making her step back. Hopeful, she fired another, but Shadow Ananas blocked it with a hand.

"I WON'T LET YOU" the center of the palm glowed for a moment before a beam of ice hit the wall to the side of Ananas, freezing the spot. Ananas summoned Hippolyta again, intending to block with fire, but before she could act a spear crossed the air, shattering the ice and releasing gusts of biting cold air, distracting Ananas for long enough to hit the Persona with another spear. Ananas recoiled, Hippolyta disappearing, the girl kneeled, trying to endure the pain from being attacked on her psyche "AN OPENING!" Shadow Undyne gleefully proclaimed.

In a moment, two balls of light appeared near Ananas, morphing into two arrows that tried to hit her. Ananas closed her eyes involuntarily, but the arrows never hit her. When she opened her eyes she found herself enveloped by a pair of large wings, and Syphus was to her side. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine!" Ananas said, making her best defiant face "We need a plan!"

"I know; I'm trying to think!" Protecting himself and Ananas from Shadow Undyne's light attacks bought them some time, but they needed a way to turn the tables or they'd die. Outside, Cohen's Persona attacked with his sword, drawing large arches from a distance, blasts of force crossing the air, even though it wasn't being effective against Shadow Undyne.

"STOP THAT!" Shadow Undyne fired spears in Cohen's direction, he had to stop his attack to dodge. That moment of distraction was enough for the Shadow, suddenly rockets of flames fired from its feet, propelling Shadow Undyne towards Syphus' current Persona. Principality raised its staff, attempting to block Shadow Undyne. It barely worked. Shadow Undyne hit the staff with its fists, deterred just for a moment.

"Annie, heal Cohen with some of that hospital food! I'll hold Undyne here!"

Ananas reached Cohen and followed Syphus' instructions, something Cohen appreciated, but they still needed a good attack plan. Using their physical weapons against the Shadow wouldn't work at all, all they could do was rely on their Personas. Electricity and fire blasted Shadow Undyne over and over, and although they were doing damage, Shadow Undyne continued undeterred, pushing against Principality and getting Syphus and his Persona against the wall. The angel that was Principality tried to push back, but it wasn't strong enough, it slammed against the wall, vanishing. "No!" Syphus, aghast, tried to protect himself.

It didn't work. Shadow Undyne grabbed him, turned around and threw him against the Barrier as strongly as she could. It was like crashing against a flexible plastic sheet, he fell to the floor with a loud crack. He tried to breathe, a burning pain filling his chest. _I think I broke something..._ He managed to stand up, holding his chest. "W-We're being outmatched..."

"Stand up! You can't give up!" Cohen shouted, summoning his Persona again to attack. Ajax's sword clashed against Shadow Undyne's arms, she raised them and blocked every single blow of the sword. Ajax tried over and over, jumping and getting to the other side of Shadow Undyne to try to find a weak point, but every single time the enemy managed to parry, the noise of steel against steel filling the room. There weren't even scratches on the mecha's paint.

"THIS WILL END NOW!" Shadow Undyne's cannon arm glowed, releasing a blast of ice to the air. Large crystals of ice formed underneath the team, trapping Ananas and Cohen in their place and shattering with a loud crack once they were completely covered. It was much stronger than the ice spells they had dealt with so far, Shadow Undyne was in an entirely different tier than the rest of Shadows they had fought. Syphus barely managed to dodge the ice spell, but the moment Cohen screamed in pain and fell to the floor, he rushed towards where he heard the scream from.

Cohen was lying on the ground, unconscious. "Cohen!" _Revival bead, where are those?!_ Hoping Ananas would keep Shadow Undyne busy, Syphus woke him up, just when Shadow Undyne fired another ice spell at Ananas, knocking her out as well. _Damn it, no!_ Ananas was on the other side, and now there was nobody to distract Shadow Undyne.

He never realized the danger until he was crossing the cavern towards Ananas' unconscious form, and by then, it was too late. Shadow Undyne noticed him, and leaned forward, the contraption on the back of the mecha starting to flare up. Green rays formed at the tip and spread through the cavern, hitting Syphus, making him freeze into his place. He tried to pull forward, trying to give even a single step, but his feet didn't budge. _What's going on?! Why can't I move?!_ Shadow Undyne cackled triumphantly, moving her arm upwards, a Bufula spell hitting him, leaving him vulnerable, recoiling.

To him it was as if everything was moving in slow motion. Shadow Undyne raised the arm that held the spear cannon, aiming at him. Spears flew through the air, hitting him several times. For a moment he thought he was back at that moment several days ago, fighting Undyne at the Hidden Village. He didn't see the humongous mecha, he saw Undyne like normal, looking at him with fury and resignation. And just like that time, he was defeated. No sooner the last spear had passed through him Syphus gave up, falling to the floor, dissolving into wisps of smoke.

-ooooo-

It was nerve-wracking to wait for whatever Syphus and the rest of his team were doing. Alphys, too jittery to try to sit and do nothing while waiting, tried to work on personal projects, she tried to watch the feed from the cameras, she thought about contacting Asgore, but no matter what she tried to do, she kept going back to the bed where Undyne was resting, to the chairs Syphus and the rest were sitting on. "P-Please...Undyne, please be okay..." she whispered many times, hoping everyone would wake up soon.

The moment Syphus turned into smoke was the moment she knew something had gone very wrong. One moment he was sitting there, with his eyes closed, the next moment he turned into nothing. Astonished, she passed her claws over the spot Syphus had been at, there was nothing more than air. "W-What happened...?"

"...ah, sheesh! I feel so dizzy now..."

Alphys jumped in the air, not having expected to hear that voice. "Undyne!" she hurried to Undyne's side, helping her to stand up. Undyne blinked a few times, a bit disoriented, but grinned when she noticed it was Alphys helping here.

"I'm so glad you're here with me, Alphys" she said, Alphys blushing a bit at being appreciated. Undyne made sure she'd be able to stay on her feet without swaying, and surveyed her surroundings, the two humans, still unconscious. "Okay, we better move quick"

"M-Move? W-What do you mean?"

"We have to take their souls. Look, two humans right there"

"What?!" Alphys squealed in a rather high-pitched tone. What was that supposed to mean?! "Y-You don't mean that literally, r-right? You—you mean something else...right?"

Undyne grabbed Ananas from her vest, lifting her in the air until she was right in front of her face. She avoided looking at Alphys, a tad annoyed at her tone "Of course not. We need these souls for the Barrier. Everyone's relying on us, Alphys"

"Y-Y-You can't be serious...th-they did nothing wrong, you shouldn't-!"

"I know; I don't like it either! But it's what must be done" she put Ananas down more delicately, crouching to examine Cohen, and frowned "Ngh...no, these won't work"

"E-Eh?"

"These humans don't have souls. They're like empty husks. That means they're dead, I think. I'm not sure how human souls work; I could be wrong"

"Dead?!" Alphys almost tripped in her hurry to reach the humans, she put her fingers on their necks. She remembered having read somewhere you could feel a human's pulse there, but no matter where on their necks she touched, she felt nothing. Were they even breathing? "T-They're not breathing...Undyne, they're not breathing!"

"I'll talk to Asgore so he does whatever humans do with their dead people. It's the least they deserve" Undyne said, appropriately grim. Even though she didn't even know those humans at all – it was the first time she saw them – they deserved respect. There were other things to focus on, though, more important matters "Frisk must be somewhere in Hotland, that'd be one soul. I didn't know there were these many humans down here. There could be more somewhere" she said. Alphys turned her head around, horrified and pale "If these two managed to be in the Underground and didn't get noticed, that means more humans could have done the same, right? It's unlikely, but just in case—"

"W-What are you saying?!" Alphys stood up, her hands shaking "Undyne, they—they _died_! A-A-You—you don't even c-care? What's wrong with y-you?!"

"Alphys—"

"A-And you're even going to try take th-that child's soul? Th-They're your friend! Y-You're going to betray your _f_ - _friend_!"

"I don't like it either, but it's must what we must do. Alphys, every monster in the Underground wants to be free. It's my duty to help them, to show them their hopes can be fulfilled! If I can do something, then I won't stand aside!" she lowered her voice "I can't do that alone. I need your help, Alphys...can you help me?"

Alphys didn't reply. She looked away, wanting to get Undyne to change her mind, but the words refused to come out. She was as determined as usual, ready to tackle any obstacle in her way, and that's what hurt the most: the feeling that no matter what she said, Undyne wouldn't change her mind.

Getting tense because of the silence, Undyne stood up straighter, steeling her resolve. "We'll continue talking later. I'll meet with the rest of the guards and organize a search. I'll call you later" she said, a bit hurt by the lack of positive response from Alphys. Without saying another word, Undyne turned around and left the laboratory, wondering where her armor was.

The more she got away from the laboratory, the more her thoughts strayed from the armor and went to her guilt. She didn't want to take any human's souls. It wasn't fair, the humans had done nothing wrong! Well, _these_ humans, most likely. If any humans lived in the underground then they had stayed aside, without bothering anyone. Nobody had been hurt or attacked. Pretty much all the monster deaths during the last few decades had been natural, due to old age, no human had caused them. Those hypothetical humans were harmless! But that didn't matter, she couldn't have regrets. She had to be strong.

She entered New Home, avoiding everyone's eyes and telling herself over and over there was no other choice. It didn't make her feel better. 'You coward...' she thought to herself, wishing she could give herself a good slap for daring to think about betraying Frisk. The child had showed her a lot of kindness, they had cooked together, they had burned her house together! Even thinking about killing them was—"Get yourself together!" she said aloud, stomping into the Royal Guard headquarters. She had to keep going.

Once all souls were gathered and all monsters were released from the mountain, no more attacks on any humans would be needed. She'd convince Asgore not to declare war on the humans on the surface. The seven humans that'd have to be killed would be the only ones that'd suffer, but what was one supposed to do?

There was no other option. Getting the human souls was the only choice there was, for the sake of a good cause. For all monsterkind's hopes.

It was her duty and she couldn't turn her back to it.

-ooooo-

 _Time passed. Undyne turned sullen, her only motivation being her role as the captain of the Royal Guard. Her private life was in shambles. Alphys had cut off all contact with her, their friendship was completely destroyed in just one day. Even though Undyne tried to apologize, to explain her reasons, Alphys rejected them all, instead demanding to be left alone. She once even begged her to stop, to show mercy to the humans, but Undyne refused. That was the last Undyne ever heard of Alphys. When she tried to see her again, Alphys didn't even bother to answer the door._

 _The loss of Alphys' love and friendship didn't deter Undyne. She and the rest of the guards under her command kept searching until they found the Hidden Village. The attack was done not long afterwards, but by some turn of fate it seemed the humans in that village had been warned of Undyne's intentions, and had been in the process of preparing to run away._

 _Not everyone was able to escape. A couple humans were captured and their souls got taken, the rest got away, going towards Snowdin. The guards from Snowdin cooperated to save those humans, much to Undyne's frustration._

 _The situation in the Underground deteriorated further. Suddenly, the Queen cut all contact with the rest of the Underground. She closed the Ruins, destroying the entrance, and locked inside everyone who was in the Ruins in that moment. Asgore, distraught, tried to get in contact with Toriel, but it was impossible. With his wife away and completely shut from the rest of the kingdom, he got careless, unwittingly letting the tensions in the Underground flare further. Everybody knew the people of Snowdin had saved the humans. Distrust and desperation filled the Underground. Despite they having obtained a couple souls, the morale was worse than before._

 _Yet Undyne didn't care about the state of the Underground. She was too focused on her objective to notice._

 **GAME RESULT:**

 _Celia: Alive. The Ruins will be her home for the rest of her life._

 _Cohen: Dead. His soul was destroyed._

 _Byssa: Dead. Her soul shall be sacrificed to open the Barrier someday._

 _Ciruel: Alive. The Ruins will be his home for the rest of his life._

 _Graham: Dead. His soul shall be sacrificed to open the Barrier someday._

 _Ananas: Dead. Her soul was destroyed._

 _Frisk: Alive. The Ruins will be their home for the rest of their life._

 _Syphus: Dead. A failure, nothing more._

 _Asgore – Alive, crumbling under the weight of his duties._

 _Toriel – Alive. Isolated in the ruins, the kingdom left aside._

 _Asriel – Dead. That never changed._

 _Chara – Dead. It's doubtful their spirit will ever find peace._

 _Sans – Alive. Doesn't want to do anything._

 _Papyrus – Alive. Visiting the ruins every day and hoping to hear from his human friend again._

 _Undyne – Alive. Increasingly isolated from her former friends._

 _Alphys – Alive, trying to understand how everything went wrong._

 _Mettaton – Alive and pursuing his dreams._

 _Burgerpants – Alive and without hopes for anything changing._

 _0% of the monsters in the Underground died. A kinder fate than most, but definitely not the one you want._

 _The winner is **Cornio**. The Barrier wasn't broken. The objective wasn't achieved._

-ooooo-

Sisyphus let his face fall into his hands, the glasses falling down from his face. Once again he had lost. He had been blindsided by Shadow Undyne. Cornio didn't look any happier either. "...um...sorry for that" he said, scratching the side of his face sheepishly. "We need to try again. Are you ready?"

"You don't even need to ask" Sisyphus mumbled while Lucia started rearranging the pieces back to the latest SAVE point.


	28. Justice Arcana

**"'The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few'"**

 **"What?"**

 **"There was this human show...a few episodes fell into the Underground, and there was a character who said that. Do you think it's true?"**

 **"Of course not!"**

 **"Are you sure?"**

 **"...why do you ask?"**

 **"Lucia mentioned it a few times too. I thought I should ask for your opinion"**

 **"I think-Uh, Master?"**

 **"Allow me to impart my opinion: if the opinions of the many always were more important than those of the few, humanity would have perished long ago. It is all a matter of not letting yourself be swayed, and look into your own heart. Often the answer is closer than you think - within you and of those you have bonded with"**

 **"..."**

 **"..."**

 **"...you're right...I think?"**

* * *

There was something very unsettling about knowing you'd have to go meet someone or something that'd kill you again if you made a wrong move. _How can Frisk endure this over and over? That kid is amazing!_ Syphus thought, passing through the throne room with Ananas and Cohen. His thoughts wandered, unsure of what he was doing.

One moment he died, the next moment he was in Alphys' laboratory and everyone was okay. Syphus blinked several times, a bit disoriented, and looked at his hands. He had returned to the latest SAVE point. "...well that sucks..." he tried to stay calm, freaking out wasn't going to help anyone. Dying wasn't something he wanted to experience again, that was for sure.

"Are you okay?" Cohen inquired, holding onto Syphus' arm.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just got distracted" he lied, trying to remember everything he did during the fight, everything Shadow Undyne had done. There had to be some way to not make the same mistakes, but how? "Alphys, Undyne can turn someone's soul green, right? Is there any way to avoid that?"

"What does it mean to have a green soul?" Ananas asked, but nobody bothered to answer. Alphys adjusted her glasses, thinking.

"I don't think there's a w-way to stop it. Why do you ask?"

"It'd be a problem if any of us got affected by that, I think. If we can't move or run away, then we'd be defenseless" And Shadow Undyne didn't seem interested in the slightest to even the ground, judging by how it had killed him instead of giving him a means to block the attacks. They had to find a way by themselves.

"I-I suppose y-you're right, but...okay, maybe there is a way. I can't guarantee it'll work, but if you're interested..." Alphys said, hesitant. Once Syphus encouraged her to continue, she went towards her work table, taking a cellphone out of the drawer "I made this for, um, for reasons. It has many functions, like a keychain a-and an account for the Underground's so-social network, b-but, uh, nevermind all that. It also had something to turn a human—a human's soul yellow"

"What happens when your soul is yellow?" Ananas asked. This time Alphys looked at her with surprise.

"You don't know?" when Ananas shook her head, Alphys tried to think of an easy way to explain "That's strange, I thought you'd know since your soul, well...yellow s-souls can shoot something l-like...bullets? Like the bullets m-monster magic has? But these are very weak bullets, they can't do much"

"But if you turn your soul yellow then maybe you can override what Undyne does...I think it's worth a try" Syphus requested Alphys to lend them the cellphone. Once she explained how to activate that function, she gave the cellphone "I-I could make another two, but I'd need a day or so..."

"I doubt we can wait a whole day. Let's use that one for now" Cohen said, and he was right. It was too risky to let much time pass. Who knew what the rest of the Royal Guard would do if too much time passed. For now they were okay with leaving Undyne with Alphys, but if there were no results, then they'd come to return her to the hospital. Helping her while she was in a hospital room would be a big hassle, as it had been proven during their trek into Alphys' SOUL.

Since he didn't want to waste much time, Syphus led the group through the hallways, ignoring the many duplicated cafeterias and trying to find the place where he remembered High Pixie had opened the wall to give access to the rest of the castle. Without her protection – how were they going to find her again, in the first place? - going through the hallways of the headquarters was much more of a hassle, having to fight any Shadow that got in their way. By the time they reached the right spot, the three of them were already feeling tired, but had no way to rest.

"There better not be any big threats behind that wall" Cohen pleaded, trying to ignore the growing headache he was feeling.

"I don't think there is any. Annie, go ahead" Syphus touched a part of the wall to indicate her where to use Hippolyta to strike, and stepped aside. The girl took a deep breath, trying to gather her strength, and summoned her Persona. Hippolyta raised the axe, when Ananas extended her hand, Hippolyta charged forward, crossing the hallway and slamming the edge of the axe against the wall. For a moment nothing happened. Suddenly, a crack formed from the axe to the top of the wall, more cracks appeared around it. The noise of crumbling stone filled the area, dust flowed from the cracks to the floor, until the wall exploded outwards, into the castle hall.

"...you weren't kidding, there really was something behind that wall" Cohen said, somewhat surprised. He peeked through the hole, examining the new passageway "No enemies in sight. Let's go"

All that remained was going to see Undyne again, and see her Shadow go berserk and attack them. It didn't take long to reach her.

-ooooo-

Syphus pretended to analyze Shadow Undyne while it got out of the Barrier. "Listen here, this Shadow has ice attacks. Watch out, Cohen. Try to counter any attacks with fire, Annie"

"Got it!"

Just in case, Syphus prepared the cellphone in his hand. Knowing what Shadow Undyne could do gave him a bit of an advantage, he made sure to have a Persona that'd resist both her ice spells and her light spells. Ananas, having been cautioned about the ice spells, kept Hippolyta close to her to try to counter the ice, diminishing the damage done to her. Cohen was defenseless, though. All he could do was keep moving, trying to stay away from Shadow Undyne's spells.

"STOP THAT ALREADY!" Shadow Undyne raised both hands, frustrated she hadn't been able to land a single hit yet. The spear cannon and the hand for the spells glowed, striking the ceiling, rocks falling and trying to crush the team. Cohen's Persona traced a wide arch with its sword, the energy from the sword destroying most of the rocks.

"We still need a plan" he said, still calm.

"I TOLD YOU TO STOP!" Shadow Undyne dropped to the ground, aiming at Cohen with the contraption behind her back. The machine glowed green, Cohen's Persona disappeared when the wave hit it. The old man let out a yelp of surprise, falling to the floor and finding himself unable to move from the spot he was at. "GOTCHA!" the Shadow aimed its spears towards Cohen.

"No!" Ananas shouted, Hippolyta levitating in front of Cohen and unleashing a burst of fire towards the spears, deviating and making several disappear. A few hit Hippolyta, making Ananas recoil but she held on.

Syphus, seeing his chance, ran towards Cohen "Keep it up, Annie!" he yelled while he passed the cellphone to Cohen. _Come on, this has to work! Please!_ Cohen received the cellphone and pressed the yellow button, a strange sensation filling him.

"This is so weird..." he said, trying to stand up, and slowly he moved a foot backwards, successfully moving "It works!"

"WHAT?! THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE! YOU CAN'T FLEE!" the number of spears crossing the air intensified, she also pointed with the other palm at Ananas, a beam of ice crashing against the fire Hippolyta kept using. Ananas struggled to hold the constant fire, and before she was overwhelmed, Syphus stepped in, summoning a Persona. Wind surrounded Hippolyta and started pushing back, Syphus using his Persona Fortuna's wind spells to keep Ananas from getting injured any further.

Hoping they'd resist against Shadow Undyne for long enough to discuss the situation, Cohen approached them. "Is that what you were warning us about? The green soul thing?" Syphus nodded, trying to focus on fighting back.

"It's some power she has! I don't know if we can counter it further!"

"I saw something before I couldn't move" Cohen stepped aside, examining Shadow Undyne. Behind it he could barely see the contraption on its back "I think it's that thing on her back"

"Let's destroy it!" Ananas yelled, tense, still struggling to continue resisting.

"We should try that" Cohen determined. Syphus thought for a moment, staring straight at the attacks, and nodded again. He moved closer to Ananas and whispered instructions to her. They had only one chance. If they failed, Shadow Undyne would guard her back and make it much harder to hit that contraption.

Trying to make as little noise as possible, Ananas made Hippolyta disappear and moved aside. Without her help, Syphus was quickly overwhelmed, he barely was able to jump back before the spot he had been at was frozen. That was Cohen's cue, he jumped forward. "Blast it!" he shouted, Ajax swatted the air with the sword. It was no more than an empty threat, but Shadow Undyne reacted like they wanted it to. It launched itself forward, propellers in its feet activating, and tried to tackle Ajax, that Persona vanishing right before Shadow Undyne grappled it. Confused, Shadow Undyne hovered for a second.

"Now!"

A ball of fire hit the contraption, the metal sizzled. Shadow Undyne, having felt it, tried to turn around, but Cohen made his Persona grab one of Shadow Undyne's hands, while Syphus' Persona did the same to the other. The two Personas pulled her forward, catching the Shadow by surprise, giving Ananas the chance to strike over and over.

The hot metal sizzled and twisted, the noise of heated steel being ripped apart filled the room. The contraption started glowing red, just what Ananas had been waiting for. In a moment, Hippolyta swung the axe and cleaved right between Shadow Undyne's back and the contraption, and tried to separate them. "NO! STOP THAT!" Shadow Undyne, enraged, tried to move away, but the other Personas kept it in its place. Desperate to get itself free, it tried to blast Cohen away with ice spells, but his Persona held onto the Shadow's hand even though Shadow Undyne hit his weakness.

Soon, the contraption separated from Shadow Undyne's back and fell to the floor heavily, a strong 'thud' echoing in the cavern. Sparks flew from Shadow Undyne's back. "I did it!" Ananas celebrated, and dived into the darkest place she could find, hoping not to get the Shadow's attention on her. Shadow Undyne, having noticed what happened, roared with frustration, pulling her hands back so strongly the Personas couldn't stop her. Ajax and Fortuna were raised in the air and thrown in the air, getting Syphus and Cohen distracted enough to be taken out of commission. "Leave them alone!" Hippolyta cleaved right where the contraption used to be while Syphus helped Cohen.

Without a way to get the team to stand still, Shadow Undyne jumped upwards. Syphus' past experience with the first try they fought Shadow Undyne kept giving them the upper hand, avoiding the worst part of that, the team retreated until they were away from the falling rocks. The moment Shadow Undyne descended, all the Personas attacked with everything they had, pushing Shadow Undyne towards the Barrier. Cohen, seeing his chance, made Ajax move behind the Shadow and readied the sword. "I'm set!"

"Get ready, Annie!" Syphus said, Ananas increased her attack. Fortuna spun her wheel, a blast of wind crossed the room and pushed Shadow Undyne further back, at the same time Ajax hit the back of Shadow Undyne's legs, making her fall backwards. The Persona disappeared just in time before Hippolyta flew to Shadow Undyne, enveloping her axe with fire and hitting Shadow Undyne right on the LED screen it had on its chest, pushing her into the ground so hard there was an indent on the rocks. For a moment the team could only stare, unsure of if it was over. Shadow Undyne didn't move. After a minute, they sighed with relief.

"That wasn't so hard!" Ananas commented "I thought it'd be much harder than this"

"Trust me, it's better it wasn't difficult" Syphus said, approaching. If it really was over, then they had to get Undyne out of her Shadow. Syphus climbed on Shadow Undyne, warily walking towards the mecha. Above him, Hippolyta hovered, just in case the Shadow attacked again. Unsure of what to do, Syphus kneeled beside the cracked LED display and tried to peer inside. He could see something, the vague shape of someone inside. "Cohen, please get over here" he requested, tearing away some of the glass. Without hesitation, he reached into the empty space and found a hand. "She is here!"

"Got her" Cohen had already gotten there, getting both hands inside. Undyne still had her armor on. She was heavy, but between the two of them they managed to lift her out. Cohen got off the mecha and prepared to catch Undyne once Syphus pushed her off the surface of the machine.

"You better not drop her!" he warned before pushing Undyne off. Cohen buckled under her weight but he managed to keep her from crashing onto the ground, and dragged her away from her Shadow. He wasn't fond of Undyne, but he understood what it felt to be trapped by your Shadow, what it was to have your inner doubts to be exposed to other people. That was why he was as careful as possible, making sure to leave her on a flat surface.

"Is she okay?" Ananas asked, taking off her hat and holding it in front of her as sign of respect.

"I think she is. Don't worry" he lightly slapped Undyne's cheek "Wake up. Come on, wake up"

It took a moment for Undyne to open her eye. She groaned, sounding as annoyed as someone who had to wake up early in the morning, and stared at Cohen. "You!" she turned head to Ananas, who hid her face behind her hat "And you too! I wasn't seeing things, you're humans!"

"...surprise?" Ananas sounded like she wished to disappear behind her hat. Bemused, Undyne got up to her feet immediately, a spear materializing in her hands. She didn't aim it to anyone – was that a good sign? – but the spear made it clear to the she wasn't in a joking mood.

"What's going on here? What was that thing that looked like me?!"

"It's a long story, but we'll try to explain" Syphus said, approaching slowly and showing his hands. Before he could say anything, Undyne narrowed her eye, looking him up and down.

"That voice...and those clothes. No, that's impossible..." she made a dumbfounded face, the spear descending a bit "Syphus?"

He smiled apologetically "That'll be explained too. Look, you need to defeat that thing" he pointed with his thumb at the fallen mecha, the Shadow was already starting to twitch "That's a part of you, you have to face it!"

"Face my—that's part of me?" she looked at the rising mecha "Okay, that's kinda cool, but that's impossible. You're not making any sense, punk!"

"Just do it! Come on, Undyne, you _have_ to do it!" Syphus pleaded, running to the back of the cavern. Shadow Undyne shambled forward slowly, head dropped and hands languidly raised. Several spears flew from the cannon and struck the ground aimlessly, it seemed to be in a daze.

"What the heck...?" Undyne whispered, astonished "There's no way that's part of me!"

As if that was what Shadow Undyne was waiting for, it started talking, advancing further towards Undyne. "I NEED TO DO IT...NO MATTER WHAT...I WILL KILL THE HUMANS..." Undyne froze, her pupil turning into a pinprick "I'LL DO...WHATEVER IT TAKES BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT...I NEED TO DO… FOR ASGORE…FOR EVERYONE" Undyne looked down.

"What the heck..."

"FRISK'S SOUL WILL BE THE FIRST..." that got Undyne to look up again "WITH THEIR SOUL, MONSTERKIND WILL TAKE THE FIRST STEP TOWARDS FREEDOM! I CAN'T THINK ABOUT HOW I FEEL...I MUST DO IT...EVEN IF I DON'T WANT..."

For a moment Undyne said nothing, listening to what her Shadow was droning. It took her so long Syphus started to fear she wasn't going to face her Shadow, but then she raised her head. "...no. I'm not betraying them"

"WHAT I WANT DOESN'T MATTER...WHAT MATTERS IS MY DUTY..."

"Shut up! I know, okay? I'm the captain, everyone's relying on me! But I'm not going to kill a friend! That's not how I am!" the spear in her hands shone brighter "You know nothing about me!"

"I CAN'T LEAVE MONSTERS TRAPPED...HUMANS MUST BE—"

"I told you to shut up!" Undyne threw the spear like a javelin. In one moment it was in her hands, the next moment it had passed through Shadow Undyne's body, piercing it. The moment the tip of the spear touched the Shadow, it went completely still, swaying in its place, silent. Undyne grabbed her head, taking deep breaths.

She wasn't alone. Those humans saw it all. She turned around, ashamed, and started shouting, trying to get rid of all the frustration she felt. "Fine! Yeah, I feel I need to do it! I almost killed a kid just because they were human and had a soul we needed, even when I knew they weren't dangerous! That's bad, I get it!"

"I can think of words other than 'bad'" Cohen said, undeterred. Undyne winced as if Cohen had just punched her in the gut, she knew very well 'bad' could be considered an understatement.

"I know! I told you I know it's wrong!" Undyne's shoulders dropped, she seemed defeated "It's just that I dunno what to do. I want to help monsters, and I don't want to hurt humans. The king's plan is important, and I want to help him, I want to see monsters be free. I dunno how to do that and not take an _innocent_ human's soul, that's the problem!"

Syphus leaned on his halberd, careful not to touch the wide blade, and tried to think a good reply, a suggestion to soothe and guide Undyne, but he couldn't think of anything. It wasn't as simple as telling her to pick one, she couldn't just abandon monsterkind. The speech she was going to give to the Royal Guard would have been a risky solution, bit it could have backfired. What was he supposed to say?

"Join us. We're going to break the barrier!"

Ananas' candid and immediate response made everyone turn towards her. A bit nervous at having everyone's eyes on her, she continued "That's what we're gonna do. Join our team and you can help monsters and humans at the same time"

"Annie, I'm not sure it won't be so easy—"

" _That's_ what you're trying to do? Fufufu...you think that's going to work?" Undyne laughed, but despite how derisive her words were, she was paying complete attention to Ananas.

"Yep. We'll break that barrier; we promise"

Undyne looked to the rest of the team, expecting them to confirm that. Still stunned by Ananas so boldly stating that, Syphus nodded. "Yeah, it'll work" he babbled.

"I know I wouldn't be here if I didn't believe it'd work" Cohen said.

Undyne cackled, shaking her head. "This is a really wishy-washy team. Is this girl the only person here who has guts to put enthusiasm into this if it seems impossible?" Somehow, Syphus had the feeling Undyne was dissing herself as well.

"Are you going to be our new partner?" Ananas asked. Even though her eyes showed doubt and fear towards Undyne, she felt like this was the only way Undyne could help everyone. She wouldn't have to abandon monsters or hurt humans!

Undyne's face turned serious, she put her hands on her hips. "Are you guys sure it'll work?"

Syphus looked away. "W-We don't know how long it'll take, but it's the way we found to break the Barrier. It has to work"

"I don't understand how it works, but it's better than doing nothing" Cohen corroborated.

Nobody said anything for a while. Shadow Undyne, unmoving, was behind Undyne, not even bothering to try to attack her. Undyne curled her hands into fists, staring at the floor, deep in thought. The team didn't dare to push her to help them, unsure if she'd lash out or decide to follow her Shadow's wishes despite everything she had just said.

"...I can't believe I got in this mess. So stupid, Undyne, so stupid..." her gauntlets screeched noisily because of how tightly she had clenched her hands "Count me in. What do I have to do?"

"YOU CAN'T—YOU CAN'T TURN YOUR BACK...TO MONSTERKIND—"

"I'm not! This'll help all monsters too!"

"THIS IS WHAT YOU WANT-!"

With a scream of rage, Undyne turned around and hurled another spear straight at Shadow Undyne's face "Shut up already!" she shouted right when the tip of the spear collided with the Shadow's face. The spear pierced through the steel, coming out from behind Shadow Undyne's head. "I had enough of you! I'm not going to listen to you!"

"Und—" Ananas tried to approach, but Syphus stopped her.

Undyne continued, not having noticed that. "I know how I feel. Fine, this ugly thing is part of how I have felt. But I'm not gonna let this drag me down anymore. There's going to be a way to save everyone. I will make sure it works!"

"So you're joining the team?" Cohen tried to confirm.

"Of course I will! I'll trust you three for now. Tell me what I need to do to help"

As if that was its cue, Shadow Undyne started glowing bright blue. The parts of the mecha shrunk and twisted, everyone was forced to cover their eyes while the Shadow changed. When they were finally able to look, it took all of them a moment to understand what they were seeing.

Syphus' first instinct was to think it was one of those dreaded Knight-type Shadows. The new Persona was riding a strange floating vehicle that looked like parts of Undyne's armor mashed together to form a mount. Undyne's helmet formed the head. Tough and firm hands grasped the reins, keeping the horse under control.

The main figure was a tough, formidable woman, clad in the same black steel than its mount. Its helmet seemed heavy, shining in the iridescent light of the cave entrance beyond the barrier, the Persona had blue scales just like the monster it represented. Deteriorated red wings peeked from its back. In its hand there was a long, shiny spear, of the color of ice, and in its other hand it held the reins, having the horse made of Undyne's Royal Guard armor be completely under its control.

 **Undyne has taken the decision to break her self-imposed chains and reach her true potential. The strength of her heart has bestowed her the Persona Geiravor**

Geiravor disappeared, returning into Undyne. She pressed her fist onto her chest, unsure of what had just happened, but instinctively she felt like she had the answers. "My Persona...that's my power. I can help you three now"

"We have Undyne on our side! Nothing can stop us now!" Ananas claimed, almost unable to stay put because of how happy she felt.

"If her Persona is as strong as her Shadow, we just got a valuable teammate" Cohen stated, smiling. _I sure hope so, we had to_ die _to get her in our team._

Once Cohen took the remains of Shadow Undyne to add to the spear Alphys was working on, he approached the rest, Syphus had just showed Undyne the firefly brooch pinned to her. "...press that and we'll return home"

"It's that easy? Then let's get going!" Undyne said, extending her hand towards Ananas. Ananas hesitated for a moment and grabbed Undyne's hand, trying to squeeze it and show she had nothing to fear of Undyne. She wasn't very convincing. "Scared, squirt?"

"...a little" Ananas admitted, looking at the ground. Was she ashamed?

Something about that answer made Undyne soften. She smiled with something that seemed rather close to genuine warmth, and pushed Ananas' hat further onto the girl's head. "Don't be like that, it's okay to be scared sometimes. Just do what I do when I'm scared: shout!"

"Shout? But you shout all the time"

"That's not the point, I just like being loud. I'm telling you to shout as loud as you can, make it be as angry as you can! That always helps face your fears!"

Ananas looked up, skeptic, but after a moment she nodded. "I'll remember that"

"That's the spirit!" she grinned, but before they could press on the brooch, she whispered to Syphus "You still owe me a very good explanation!" she reminded him before slamming her gauntlet on the brooch, making everyone leave her SOUL.

-ooooo-

Alphys had a very hard time not staying to the side of where Undyne was unconscious. Having four unconscious forms in her laboratory was something she never wanted to repeat, she wanted nothing less than all of them waking up so everything would be okay. She forced herself to look away from her guests, working on the very first project she encountered nearby. She was ruining a figurine with paint, her claws trembling all over the place and covering the figurine with the wrong color in most places, trying very hard not to think about Undyne, or those two humans, or Syphus.

The scream coming from upstairs made her push the figurine's head off. She dropped the brush and the figurine, rushing upstairs as quick as possible. Undyne was on the foldable bed, screaming, terrified, looking around as if she expected a danger to jump at her. Alphys approached, raising her hands in what she hoped was a soothing gesture. "U-Undyne, it's okay. You're safe. It's me, Alphys"

"Alphys?" Undyne stopped panicking and focused on her.

"Yes. Don't worry. I'm here" she got closer, tip-toeing around the stirring forms of the team. Once she was close enough to Undyne, the captain of the Royal Guard lunged forward, wrapping her arms around Alphys and hugging her tightly, almost painfully. For a moment Alphys didn't reciprocate, caught by surprise.

"You have no idea what crazy stuff I just went through!" she said rather loudly, and added, quietly: "I'm glad to see you again"

Alphys wrapped her arms around Undyne. "S-Same..." she had no idea what to say. She wanted to say something that could comfort her, but the words simply didn't come out of her. She just didn't dare to say anything or do much other than gingerly pat Undyne's back.

A couple minutes later, the rest of the team stirred up, waking up. It was surprising to not be hearing any terrified screams, but it was a welcome change of pace. Syphus sat up, rubbing his eyes. "Is everyone okay?"

"How's Undyne?" Cohen didn't even bother to reply, he immediately tried to check on Undyne, looking over Alphys. The scientist let go of Undyne, who straightened up. For a moment Undyne's expression looked conflicted, then she grinned. That grin didn't look entirely earnest.

"So it's real, there are a couple humans other than Frisk! And also..." she turned her head to look at Syphus "And there's you, too. Explain, I'm waiting!"

"S-Should you ask this right now? It's—it's a long story—" Alphys tried to stall for time, but Undyne wasn't fooled. She immediately knew what that meant.

"You knew about them and about Syphus!"

"Uh...y-yes. I knew..." she admitted and hurried to add "They—they helped me too, just like they helped you"

Undyne nodded after a moment. "Got it. I'll..." she stood up a bit shakily, holding herself against the wall "I'll sit somewhere and then we'll all talk"

"No! Undyne, you should get yourself checked, just in case" Alphys hurried to hold her "W-We don't know if anything happened t-to you..."

"I don't like the idea of having to rest at the hospital" Undyne growled, but she nodded nonetheless. It seemed explaining to Undyne everything that was going on would have to wait. After a moment of planning, it was agreed Alphys would take Undyne to the hospital in New Home, and Syphus would escort Ananas and Cohen back to the village. Thankful they still had the armors for the humans, so he was able to take Cohen and Ananas through the crowds of monster worried for Undyne.

"I can't believe we have Undyne in our team! Nothing can stop us now!" Ananas celebrated, her voice reverberating inside her helmet.

"She's not in our team yet. First we should explain everything to her" Cohen reminded her, and turned to Syphus "We going to see her tomorrow?"

"I suppose so. I'll keep checking and bring you to her when it's the right time" Syphus said, a bit absent-minded. Unlike Alphys, Undyne had been much more determined to deal with the humans, even if it's end in their death. Had she changed her opinion enough to risk her life alongside a couple of them? Syphus considered it was likely she had, but he was nervous nonetheless.

He wanted to believe she'd truly be their friend.

-ooooo-

"I'm so glad the captain is okay" 025 said, pouring some sort of sludge into cups. 046 frowned when he received the so-called coffee, and pretended to drink from it.

"I still don't understand what happened to her" he said.

"I don't get it either. She looked fine, she just finished her speech and—bam!" 023 gestured with her hands, demonstrating how Undyne had fallen to the floor of the courtyard "I was so afraid she had fallen down!"

"That'd be a big tragedy but there's no way that'd happen. Captain Undyne is too strong to fall down" 027 said assertively.

"Then what happened to her yesterday?" Syphus wondered.

"I dunno! Maybe she got heatstroke. Hotland can be a nightmare to pass through"

02 sighed, content with the horrible coffee. "...what's important is that she's okay now"

"Bro is right. We should be, like, glad she's okay" 01 said pretty much immediately.

023, a tad uncomfortable with that topic, raised his voice over the rest. "Do you guys think a human had anything to do with that? With their crazy mental powers and stuff?

"That's impossible" 01 said.

"No way" 02 added.

Syphus didn't want everyone to start discussing the rumored powers humans had – _seriously, Undyne, why did you have to say that to these guys?_ – so he said in what he hoped was a convincing tone: "It's impossible a human had anything to do with what happened to Undyne. They'd have to get into New Home, and there's no way a human sneaked into New Home or the headquarters. Someone would have seen them!"

"Yeah, Syphus is right. This isn't Snowdin or the Ruins, a human can't have entered without someone alerting us" 046 said.

"Tell me again, did you two see any human the other day?" 023 asked to their senior guards. 01 and 02 exchanged a look of fleeting panic and replied:

"Nope"

"We didn't"

046 sighed. "I guess we won't ever know why the captain fainted or whatever"...

...

...Alphonse listened to ASRIEL narrate. The guards not knowing what happened to Undyne was to be expected, but in a way it added to the confusion they already felt. It sounded like such an impossible story, that in middle of a courtyard at the Royal Guard headquarters Undyne could have been attacked. How was such thing possible?

Trying to understand better the seemingly impossible situation, Alphonse adjusted their cap, their eyes still closed. "I'm not sure I can solve this...so Undyne entered the courtyard, gave her speech, and was knocked out in front of everyone..."

"Exactly" This time ASRIEL looked much less conflicted than he had been ever before. Had he gotten used to setting up the situations? Could it be he had finally accepted the fact doing this stuff was a necessary evil?

It was a bit unsettling for Alphonse to think ASRIEL could be starting to get used to this. "Someone must have attacked Undyne"

" **Nobody approached Undyne while she was in the courtyard.** Only Alphys was near Undyne"

"If only Alphys was there then she would be..." Alphonse frowned "Alphys wouldn't do something to hurt Undyne. She can't be the attacker"

ASRIEL nodded, approving Alphonse's assessment of Alphys' character. "You're right. **Alphys is not the attacker** "

"She has to have seen something! She was so close, she knows what happened, right?"

"I...I don't think Alphys would hide something like that unless she has a good reason to do it"

Alphonse's eyes opened a bit, the golden irises being visible for a moment. "Wait, does that mean she knows something?"

"I didn't say that"

"You kind of did say that, you said—" Alphonse looked down at the surface of the table in front of him, focusing on the background music to focus better "I think I see what's going on: the person who talked in the courtyard wasn't Undyne. Everyone except Alphys thought that was Undyne, but it was an impostor! And Alphys noticed it and is pretending she doesn't know!"

For a moment ASRIEL said nothing, his long ears swaying while he tilted his head, thinking. He had to be careful to not give too many clues by accident. " **Alphys would never be fooled by a fake Undyne** "

"Really?"

"She never would be fooled" he repeated. There was no sense in arguing against that, if ASRIEL said it so categorically, then there was no room for discussion. Then how? Alphonse's theory was that the person who had appeared in front of everyone wasn't Undyne, but if Alphys wouldn't ever be fooled by an impostor, then that had to be impossible, right?

Alphonse took off their cap, messing with their hair. "I don't get it...and how did Undyne get away from the hospital?" It could be said there were two mysteries instead of one. How did Undyne get out of that hospital room without anyone seeing her? "Repeat this: Alphys never left her place near Undyne's door"

 **"Alphys never left that place and she'd have seen anyone passing by"**

"The guards never left their spot under the window"

 **"They never left it"**

"Someone must have walked away!"

ASRIEL traced with his claws the outline of the brooch Lucia had given him, wondering for a moment if the sensation of mild enjoyment he was starting to get from seeing Alphonse so puzzled was bad. He felt a gnawing sensation of guilt deep in his chest, but he wasn't sure if it was a sincere feeling, or if it was something else. He didn't reply, only when Alphonse tried to get his attention again he looked up. "Huh?"

"I was asking how Undyne left the hospital room"

"Oh. That. Uh, you'll see, it's complicated" he prepared to deliver the best moves he had. With them he was sure he'd stump Alphonse. **"Undyne didn't leave through the door"**

"So she left through the window?"

 **"Undyne didn't leave through the window"**

Alphonse passed their hands over their face. "That doesn't make any sense, she must have gotten out of that room somehow" All ASRIEL did was look at them expectantly, as if waiting for a brilliant counter that'd make him surrender. But no, no matter how much Alphonse thought, they didn't get to any good theories "I give up"

"Again?"

"You make rather difficult puzzles"

"It's not like I do it on purpose, it just happens"

Alphonse grimaced. They didn't like this very much. "You're getting used to being a witch"

For a moment ASRIEL looked like he was afraid of asking, but he did it anyway: "Is that good or bad?"

"I don't know. You're the witch, not me"

ASRIEL thought for a moment, glancing at Igor. The master of the Velvet Room was minding his own business, respecting his assistant's time with ASRIEL. A bit more confident now that he confirmed Igor wasn't listening, he admitted: "No. I don't like this. I miss being a monster. I feel guilty all the time, I have done a lot of cruel stuff since Lucia turned me into a witch.

I shouldn't have accepted her offer"

"But you trust her, you think she's your friend"

"She _is_ my friend! Lucia is my friend and I like her" It sounded like he wasn't going to change his mind about that. Resigned, Alphonse stood up from the couch and went to open the door of the Velvet Room, letting ASRIEL return to the manor. For a while they didn't say a word, they tried to read the compendium of Personas, but their thoughts kept going to Lucia. They were pretty sure she had some ulterior motive to get ASRIEL and Syphus into her games. Former guest of the Velvet Room or not, there was this constant feeling of deviousness and malice emanating from her, every time they saw her they felt like she was plotting some way to take advantage of them.

The fact she had lured Syphus and ASRIEL right when they were at their most vulnerable moments didn't help.

Feeling useless, Alphonse slammed shut the compendium.

-ooooo-

It was no surprise Undyne had so many visitors. Guard after guard entered her room, exchanging a few words with her, sometimes bringing a gift, and always making sure to tell her how glad they were she was okay. Undyne always received them with a large grin, almost always jumped off the hospital bed to boldly proclaim it'd take more than...whatever had happened...to defeat her, and sometimes ordered the visitor to stop worrying so much and continue working hard. Syphus watched from the hallway, waiting for a chance to enter with Cohen and Ananas. The humans were hiding in an empty room, waiting for him to tell them when it was okay to go out.

The chance presented itself once a small group of guards left. Syphus knocked on the door to the empty room and entered Undyne's room, closing the door behind them once Ananas and Cohen entered. "Should I block the door?"

"Don't be stupid. That'd alert anyone trying to get in here" Cohen said.

"Someone could enter and hear us talk"

Undyne rolled her eye and got off the bed. She didn't look weakened at all. "So what? Nobody will know what we're talking about. Come on, let's talk" _She's right, I guess..._

It was a relief Undyne listened to Syphus' tale without making any comment. Cohen and Ananas didn't contribute much, letting the more experienced team member tell everything. Undyne's expression wasn't encouraging, though. The more she listened, the deeper her scowl was. "...and that's pretty much it"

"Wait, let me see if I got this straight: you went to me, the captain of the Royal Guard, you knew I was going to try to take your soul if I found out you were a human, yet you actually tried to befriend me. Did I get that right?"

"...pretty much, yeah" Syphus had to summon every bit of willpower he had not to look away. Undyne grunted with annoyance, finally yielding.

"I'm not sure if you're very stupid or very brave...but fine. Any other secrets I should know?"

The team looked at each other. There indeed was something else they were hiding, but should they tell Undyne about the Hidden Village? Even though she had already decided not to harm humans to obtain their souls? Syphus was very reluctant to do it – it wasn't that he didn't trust Undyne, it was more like he really disliked the idea of Undyne being at the village again. The memories of she killing all the humans in the village in a past version of the timeline were still fresh in his mind.

Cohen had different plans, though. "There's a village of humans in Waterfall"

"Cohen! Should you really have said that?!" Syphus hissed, trying to not be heard by Undyne. Judging by the way she had looked at him with a vaguely hurtful expression, she had heard him.

"We're going to be working together. There's no reason to keep this a secret from her"

"And she can visit us!" Ananas said. Cohen nodded at her, although he corrected her:

"She'll be able to find us anytime. We'll need to make sure she can talk to us when she needs to"

"Syphus, you don't trust me?" Undyne asked, and answered her own question immediately "Fine, it's not like I gave you a reason to trust me after everything my Shadow said, but I'm not going to hurt anyone, I swear! It's going to be different now!"

"I know. I just..." Syphus rubbed his face tiredly "Nevermind. It's nothing" There was an awkward silence for a moment until Cohen, glaring at Syphus for a second, said:

"Since this guy here seems to be too distracted, I'll have to do it myself: welcome to the team" Cohen extended a hand, Undyne gripped it tightly. The two of them started tightening their grip, trying to best the other, both growling under the pressure of their hands. _...this wasn't the best start of her cooperation with us, but it's going to be okay, I guess._ Syphus looked at Ananas. She was staring at Undyne, with less trepidation than before. There were some traces of fear in her, but she was trying to suppress those and accept Undyne. _Yeah, it'll all be okay._

 **You feel even more hopeful for the success of the mission**

 **The Barrier Breakers Social Link has reached Rank 3!**

 **Your power to create Personas of the Judgement Arcana has grown!**

It was a relief to see that everyone was getting along. It felt like Cohen and Ananas didn't trust Undyne yet, that they preferred her to keep her distance, but Cohen revealing the existence of the village revealed they were willing to try to trust her. Even if Syphus didn't like this, they were going to trust Undyne with the lives of all the other humans in the Underground. At least it was unlikely Undyne would betray their trust, one of her best traits was her loyalty.

That thought brought to mind how her Shadow had mentioned the possibility of betraying Frisk to take their soul. Maybe...that loyalty wasn't as unshakeable as he had just thought? Syphus tried to block such thoughts, upset with himself for doubting her like that. He had to fully trust Undyne. He had no time to think about that kind of stuff. "O-Okay, we should get going now. We'll visit you tomorrow"

Undyne made a face of slight disgust, prodding the side of the mattress with her foot. "I'm getting out of here tonight. Guess I'll see you at the headquarters, Syphus"

"Why don't you come with us to the Village tomorrow?" Ananas had asked that, holding her hat with humble expression. Undyne's eye widened, she froze "They'll like you, you're cool and strong and—I think they'll like you. Please? Do you want to visit us?"

"...this wasn't what I expected" Cohen admitted to Syphus. Undyne blinked, recovering from the surprise, and grinned widely.

"Of course, punk! I want to meet all those humans. If they're like you I'm sure we'll be friends in no time!"

Ananas flashed a shy smile before she hid behind her hat, putting her helmet on to disguise herself. Once Cohen, Ananas and Syphus left the room, Undyne laid down on the bed, content. There was something she could do. It sounded complicated, it was weird, and she'd be working with people she never imagined she'd be ever working with, but it was a plan and therefore it was worth a try.

For the first time in a while, she felt like breaking the Barrier was a more attainable goal than before.

* * *

 **SOCIAL LINKS:**

 **Fool - Frisk - RANK 5**

 **Magician - Burgerpants - RANK 2**

 **Priestess - Alphys - RANK 4**

 **Empress - Toriel - RANK 2**

 **Emperor - Cohen - RANK 4**

 **Hierophant - Ciruel - RANK 2**

 **Lovers - ? - RANK 0**

 **Chariot - Ananas - RANK 5**

 **Justice - Undyne - RANK 4**

 **Hermit - ? - RANK 0**

 **Fortune - ? - RANK 0**

 **Strength - ? - RANK 0**

 **Hanged Man - ? - RANK 0**

 **Death - Cornio - RANK 2**

 **Temperance - ? - RANK 0**

 **Devil - ? - RANK 0**

 **Tower - ? - RANK 0**

 **Star - Lucia - RANK 2**

 **Moon - ? - RANK 0**

 **Sun - Papyrus - RANK 3**

 **Judgment - Team - RANK 3**

 **Aeon - Syphus - RANK 3**

 **Jester - Alphonse - RANK 2**


	29. Act I - END - The Big Picture

Everything has two sides. People, places, entire worlds…it all has another side. All sapient living beings have a Shadow. These fragments of the ego, hidden away from sight, resided deep into each person's psyche, representing the part of themselves they didn't show to others. Thoughts, behaviors, feelings, everything is taken by the Shadow and repressed away. In the very unlikely chance you have the possibility to behold someone's Shadow, you may learn something you didn't know about that person.

But even though individual Shadow Selves can exist in a small area, they're always connected to something bigger, forming a vast world: the collective unconscious. A world's collective unconscious is formed by the masses' perceptions of the world. Just like each individual person have their own perceptions which in turn create the environment in their psyches, the entire world's perceptions shape the collective unconscious' layout.

This subconscious world is filled with Shadows, which in turn affects the real world. Any changes to the collective unconscious will trigger changes depending on the nature of what happened. It should be no surprise that messing with psyches and the collective unconscious would bring such dire consequences to the real world.

The fabric of reality can be such a delicate thing, though. Several factors together can start to unravel it. Unfortunately for the world, the combination of issues the world had made reality less stable than it should be. The dozens of thousands of timelines, the SAVE power, the witches' game board, the firefly brooch, taking out of the souls objects filled with immense amounts of magic, the gaping hole in reality that was used to bring Syphus – a common Shadow from the collective unconscious – and left unattended in the Ruins, the much smaller holes in the places the Shadow Selves so far were defeated…it all together helped weaken the fabric of reality, the thin layer that separated reality and the collective unconscious started deteriorating enough to open up a passageway in the middle of Waterfall leading into the collective unconscious.

The problem with the collective unconscious was that nobody knew what gestated in its depths, nurtured and created by everyone's psyches. Beings with the potential to cause and prevent events with many consequences, beings often representing some concrete and powerful feeling, they try to influence the real world according to what kind of feelings and thoughts led to its creation.

Some of these creatures were fragments of the collective unconscious born from mostly positive traits, sapient enough to take their own decisions and look to aid those who, for one reason or another, are forced to undergo a journey. Igor's master, the Velvet Room attendants, all them were such fragments. Other creatures were born from more negative traits – not inherently evil, but certainly more unpredictable and usually interested only in their own "life". Those were the witches. These two types of beings often took the form and thoughts of a specific person. They weren't the same person their bodies were based on; they were more like imitations of them. The moment they turned into witches, it was like they were not human or monster anymore.

And last...there were the gods. Creatures born from especially strong feelings, always shared by a _very large_ quantity of people. The feelings and thoughts that created such beings were so strong, they often tried to lead such wishes and thoughts carried to the upmost conclusion – even if it involved the destruction of the inhabitants of the world.

But what kind of god would be born from monsterkind's collective unconscious? What kind of form would it take?

-ooooo-

Undyne really was the type to never be deterred by anything. The day went by without any problems, always being visited by a guard. Asgore brought her a handful of Echo Flower that had recorded greetings from all the guards. She spend the day listening to the messages, it was nice to know she was appreciated by her subordinates. Knowing she had made an impact in their lives was rather encouraging.

"Get better, Captain!"

"I believe in you!"

"We're waiting for you"

"I'll visit you later!"

"06 cried like a baby when he heard what happened"

"If you need something just tell me"

She promised herself she'd keep intact the messages in that bouquet for as long as possible. Alphys was entrusted with the flower, she promised she'd plant it in a pot so it could be taken to the house she still had to build.

The doctors' examinations showed there was nothing wrong with her. Her body was perfectly stable, nothing indicated she'd fall down or turn into dust anytime soon. Nobody was able to find the reason why she had fallen down, and she wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. She didn't remember her last waking moments.

Deciding that worrying about it wouldn't do her any good, she pushed out of her mind all thoughts related to the incident and focused on sleeping, wondering how the world outside was like. With the Barrier maybe being broken in the near future, it was easy to feel optimistic. She wished she could tell everyone the good news, so everyone felt the same hope she had right now, but she wasn't going to do that, those humans that had saved her were relying on her. Revealing their existence would lead nowhere good.

The next day, a large group of guards welcomed her out of the hospital. Even guards that had sided with the Queen were present. The doors opened and Undyne strolled outside, wearing her armor and holding her helmet in her hands. Her eye sparkled with glee. "Aw, you all were worried about me?" she slapped the top of the helmet, laughing "Fufufu…you shouldn't have! It'd take more than a mere whatever-happened-to-me to stop me!" Her boasting was what everyone needed to hear. If she was in mood to boast, then she was a-okay. The guards cheered. "I'm back into the game, everyone! Let's stop standing around, there's work to do!"

"Captain, wait! Didn't you want to make an announcement two days ago?" 046 asked, bowing his head. Undyne didn't stop grinning, but she unconsciously got tense, hoping she could brush off that perfectly normal question.

"Don't worry about that. It's all fine, I don't need to announce anything now" she raised her voice to address all the guards "Get going! Return to your patrolling routes!"

Slowly, everyone dispersed, giving a few words of encouragement to their captain before walking away. Soon there were only a few stragglers standing to a side…and the King of All Monsters.

Asgore stepped forward, wrapped in his large cape. He made no effort to hide the expression of worry he had. "It's a relief to see you so spirited" he said.

"Did you expect anything different from ne?"

"No. I never doubted your determination" he looked at her up and down "Perhaps you should rest for a few days, or maybe a week?"

"Definitely not! I need to help my guards!"

"I could take over your duties while you rest. Your well-being is much more important"

Undyne clapped Asgore's arm, touched by his concern. "That's so you, big guy. Always worrying for others…you should worry about yourself a bit more" she said. Asgore made a face of resignation, this wasn't the first time she said something like that "Sorry, Asgore, I'm not going to rest. I had enough rest yesterday, lying down on that bed like a rock for so long"

Asgore sighed. "I knew you'd say that" without warning, he enveloped her in a tight hug, glad she was okay "Nothing can stop you"

"That's right, nothing can stop me" she didn't try to get away. By now she was used to the king's concern, she'd be lying if she said she wasn't fond of it "I won't let it happen again"

"Well then…" he released her "…I should return to the throne room" after exchanging a few words more, Asgore walked away, going in direction of the castle. He had gone just a couple dozen feet away when some citizens stopped him, he listened attentively. Content, Undyne turned her attention to the other people she wanted to talk with.

Syphus and two guards dressed in full armor were some distance away, waving at her. When she was close, Cohen lifted up the visor of his helmet. "So that's the king…"

"He's so big" Ananas had been staring at Asgore since he had arrived, a bit scared "Those are big horns, too. How big are his fangs?"

"As big as your fingers" Syphus informed.

The girl looked at her fingers. "That's scary…but he looks a lot like Toriel"

"Toriel is the Queen, remember?" Cohen said.

Undyne looked at Syphus."So where's this village of yours?"

"Waterfall. It's not too far from where your house was"

Something about that made Undyne be frustrated. "It was _that_ close? How didn't I notice it?!"

"We found a good place to hide" Cohen said, judging it wasn't a good idea to say the Queen had been the one who had found it. The team started walking towards Waterfall, descending to the MTT resort and going outside to the sweltering heat. Undyne was in good mood, teasing Syphus by asking him if he remembered to cover her armor with cooling dirt. Given that she didn't collapse after a minute of walking through Hotland, he had done that – just like she had expected of him.

"I knew you'd be a good assistant!" she praised, glad to enter Waterfall's tempered climate "You know, I have been thinking, and I'm not going to owe anything to you guys. If you're going to introduce your friends to me, I will introduce my friends to you"

Cohen frowned, unsure if that really was a good idea. "You mean…other monsters?"

"Of course I mean other monsters! I'm not going to introduce you to the piles of garbage in the junkyard" she made them stop near her house to discuss this "This is my way to show you I really mean this, I want to get along with you guys and the other humans. There's someone I want you to meet"

"Who is it?" Ananas asked, willing to give this a chance. Undyne looked happy, thinking about someone she esteemed a lot, and started leading the way towards Snowdin

"His name is Papyrus, he's a really friendly guy. He'd like to see a human" she said. Syphus hoped that when Papyrus met Cohen and Ananas, he'd avoid mentioning he had already met a human before. He wasn't sure if anyone would take well that Ciruel had been visiting him since who knows how long. "He was training to be part of the Royal Guard too, and he was really good at training. He went to see me at midnight to ask me to train him, can you believe that?! The nerve of that guy! And when I woke up the next morning, he was still there!"

"That reminds me a lot of someone" Cohen whispered to Syphus. Thankfully, Ananas was blissfully unaware of such comment.

"I started training him. He's real good. He may be a wimp with a big heart, but he's good at fighting. It's just that…" Undyne's demeanor turned hesitant, like she was remembering something she didn't want to think about "…one day he said he wanted to stop. I asked him why, but he never told me. He always said something like 'Nyeh heh heh! Do not worry, Undyne! The great Papyrus has everything under control' and changed topics"

"That doesn't make any sense. If he wanted to be a guard so much, why'd he stop?"

"That's what I don't get! I asked his brother, he doesn't know, either!" she hit her gauntlets together "And Papyrus isn't telling me anything! I dunno if it's that I trained him too much, or if I said something bad, or whatever happened. I just want him to tell me what happened. Does he not trust me anymore or what?"

The relationship between her and Papyrus had started to stray apart. They had been close friends, but Papyrus' reticence to talk about why he stopped trying to be a guard had driven a wedge between him and Undyne, much to her frustration.

The team jumped down a ledge, Undyne still guiding them through the labyrinthine caverns. The New Home castle was visible in the distance. "Maybe he found out guards had to kill humans to get their souls, and he didn't want to do that" Ananas said.

"No, that can't be, everyone knows we guards need to fight humans. There's no way he didn't know…" one, two seconds passed before she facepalmed "Oh my god. He didn't know. If there's someone who wouldn't know that, it's Papyrus"

"He sounds silly" Ananas commented, smiling.

"Papyrus is a great guy, he likes puzzles and cooking. He's really energetic, I bet you and he will be playing in no time" Undyne cheered up a little "You know who else I'd like to introduce you to? The king. Not right now, of course, but someday you should meet Asgore" as expected, Ananas didn't look thrilled about the perspective of meeting Asgore. Cohen said what she was thinking:

"Yeah, real swell to meet the king who told the guards to kill us"

Undyne's expression hardened but she didn't refute that. It was true, after all. Not many would want to meet someone like that. "It's not his fault, this is all because he thought that was the only way to break the barrier, that's all. Come on, give him a chance! You gave _me_ a chance!"

"When this all is over we should meet the king" Syphus intervened, hoping to defuse the situation before they all got tense "He seemed like a nice guy"

"A nice guy? Did you forget what I just said? He told the guards to kill us" Cohen insisted.

"He's not like that! You talk with him for a moment, and then tell me if you still think—"

What Undyne was saying was interrupted. They had been walking down one of the many passageways Waterfall had, they were starting to get close to Snowdin, the temperature of the air was getting chilly, when they crossed the boundary. Undyne stepped forward without noticing anything abnormal. It felt like walking into a body of water, her fins flared up in surprise while she looked around. "…if you think…he's that…bad of a guy…?" her train of thought derailed "Wait, what did just happen?"

The rest of the team experienced the same sensations afterwards. Only Syphus seemed kind of unaffected, not having felt anything strange. "What?"

"What do you mean 'what'? Look around and tell me if this is normal"

She was right, something was off. Waterfall was filled with some kind of purple mist, decoloring the dark blue of the rocks and making everything look sinister. The water droplets falling from the stalactites on the ceiling were frozen in the air. There was a river nearby. Curious, Cohen tried to dip his hand into the river, finding it couldn't pass through the surface. "She's right, this is wrong"

"Syphus, what's going on? And why are none of you wearing your armors" Once again she was right. The armors Cohen, Ananas and Syphus had been wearing just a moment ago were gone. Nobody was able to explain why they were gone.

"…this mist looks kind of familiar" Syphus said, but he couldn't remember where he had ever seen it before.

"What do you mean familiar? This doesn't feel like Waterfall anymore"

"We're still in the Underground, right?" Ananas looked for reassurance.

"Let's go back" Cohen suggested, walking back where they had come from. Reluctant, the rest of the team followed him, until the environment returned to normal. They could see the water droplets splashing onto the ground, there was no more mist. They were all wearing their armor again. The rest of the corridor where they had encountered the abnormalities looked like normal, nothing hinted something was off "I don't understand…" he slowly walked forward, then back, and repeated those actions a few times. It was like he was crossing an invisible boundary, one moment everything was okay, the next moment it was all filled with mist.

"Does it seem dangerous?" Undyne asked, completely serious"

"I can't tell for sure. I don't see anything dangerous, but this mist looks strange"

Ananas grabbed her gun, just in case, and followed Cohen through the boundary. Once she was surrounded by the mist, she took a deep breath and said very clearly: "Persona!" Hippolyta appeared above her, raising the axe, ready to fight. Ananas stared at her Persona for a moment before recalling it, unsure how exactly she had just been able to get it to appear.

"You're not supposed to be able to summon it in the real world" Cohen said. As if to confirm what he had just said, Undyne tried to invoke Geiravor, achieving nothing. Deciding to take control of the situation, Syphus calculated where the boundary was at, and peered as far into the cavern as possible.

"This isn't normal. We need to investigate and find out what's going on" he said, turning around "I know it's sudden, but we have to make sure people will be okay. If some random monster stumbles in here—"

"We can't let that happen" Undyne turned to Cohen "You. You got a phone?" once she received it, she called the headquarters, her deputy picking up the call "Send some guards to Waterfall. I need them to meet me near Snowdin. Quadrant W2. Three guards should be enough"

"Get them to bring a halberd for me, please" Syphus requested. He had left the halberd behind, not having expected to need it. Undyne nodded and requested the halberd, and asked what was the plan. "We're going in, we'll try to see if there's any danger...and then we'll look for a way to fix whatever's going on, if it's bad"

"Do you think it's related to Shadows?" Ananas asked.

"I think that's likely, since we'll be able to summon our Personas" just in case, he extended his hands and made a SAVE point "Are you all ready?" Everyone was prepared despite the short notice.

Once the guards arrived, Undyne quickly imparted orders. "Patrol around here until there's a change of plans. If I haven't changed my orders in eight hours, get other guards to replace you during the next eight hours. Rotate turns" she pointed down the hallway "Don't let _anyone_ pass through here. You're not allowed to walk down this hallway either. Got it?"

"Yes!" the guards saluted.

"Get going" satisfied, Undyne let the guards go to their patrols and returned to where the rest of the team was waiting. She took a deep breath, preparing herself for the task "I didn't think I'd be getting into this so soon"

"What can you do with your Persona?" Ananas asked.

"Ice magic. I shouldn't get hit by wind, I guess" once again the new team member complemented well the rest. To make sure they'd have all bases covered, Syphus took off his brooch and prepared Fortuna. With all his Personas, he'd be able to do everything the rest wouldn't be capable of. Between the four of them, they were rather well-prepared.

"This will be uncharted territory, everyone. Let's get going" Syphus said, gripping the halberd the guards had brought. After strengthening their resolve, the four of them passed through the boundary, feeling how the air felt heavier, ominous. Ananas got between Syphus and Undyne, grabbing Syphus' arm and Undyne's gauntlet, while Cohen advanced a tad further away, fists in front of him and ready to punch anything dangerous that could come their way.

-ooooo-

It wasn't like the pieces went missing from the board. The locations didn't change, the pieces didn't move, there was no change from the board, and yet...

"They're gone" Lucia said, astonished.

Cornio stared at the pieces as if he was trying to bore a hole into them with his stare. He saw absolutely no change in them. "Are you sure? Is that normal?"

"It's not normal. It shouldn't happen under any circumstances"

Sisyphus crossed one leg over the other, looking at Lucia with an expression that bordered on impatience. "So what? What can we do about it?"

"Can you feel your piece?"

"I have no idea where it is. It's weird, it's like...it is gone"

Lucia observed the board, picking up a few pieces and putting them in other places of the board. No matter what she did, the result was the same: Cohen, Ananas, Syphus and Undyne were missing. "This is a problem. I had never seen something like this before, so I'm not sure of the consequences of this, but...this could be a big problem"

"I don't get it..." Cornio scratched his head.

"I can't say it with certainty, but if they don't have some sort of presence in the real world, it's possible any attempt to LOAD won't work. In other words: if they die, they'll stay dead"

"You can't let that happen! There must be something we can do!"

"Think of something, Lucia" Sisyphus demanded.

"I told you, there's nothing we can do. All we can do is watch and hope they'll return" she stood up from her seat "So I'll leave that up to you two. You're the players, not me. I'll go rest for a while" without even waiting for a reply, she bowed her head and left the room, slamming the doors behind her. She didn't go to her room, though. Instead she exited the manor, stepping out to the cold, crisp air of her garden, jumping a bit. With some giddiness, she turned around, observing for a moment the place she liked to call the Hopeful Star. A star lost in the endless void, floating amidst the swirling purple clouds. The slight fog that always permeated the collective unconscious would seem creepy to a lot of people, but to her it was comforting.

Lucia descended the steps to a small stone platform there was to the side of the garden. On it there was a rather intricate bench, facing the emptiness. The witch sat down on it, smoothing over the wrinkles of her dress, and relaxed, looking at the void. "I didn't think it'd happen so soon...but I suppose that's fine. Let's see if this will work"

The void wasn't empty anymore; it hadn't been empty since she had caught Sisyphus in her plans. Beyond the fog, shining strongly, there were thousands, dozens of thousands of golden strands.

-ooooo-

Sans' grin didn't disappear – hard for that to happen when his skull forced that grin to always be there – but the bone above his eyes crinkled with concern. He stared at the screen of his machine, unsure how to interpret what he was seeing.

It was already known the present timeline was very unstable, the machine had revealed it. The golden thread that represented the timeline was blurry and covered in something that resembled static. However, it seemed the situation had gotten worse recently.

Other timelines were blurry as well. Sometimes one of the timelines on screen fluctuated so violently it touched a neighboring timeline. Sans wasn't sure what kind of consequences such event would bring to reality and the timeline itself, but he was sure it wouldn't be anything good.

"welp. guess there's nothing anyone can do"

Somehow, Sans wasn't exactly anguished about the reality-shattering possibilities such anomalies could cause. True, it was disquieting to see an obviously unnatural phenomenon he didn't understand, but...was it worth it to worry about something you couldn't fix? About something you wouldn't really be in a hurry to fix, even if you could?

If reality and the timelines were going to be pureed in whatever anomaly was happening, then so be it. He wasn't going to get in the way. Still...he continued watching the screen, in his mind theorizing about what was going on. He couldn't deny he had some scientific curiosity about what'd happen!

-ooooo-

The caverns were strangely silent. Usually there was noise, even if it was ambient. Drops falling to the floor, the running of the water, the air passing through the caves, some sort of musical box in the distance. Here, it was all silent. The only sound was the sound of their breathing and their steps – while they didn't encounter anything, at least.

Just like they had expected, there were Shadows…it's just that there are much less Shadows than they expected, and what was stranger: they didn't seem hostile. The first Shadow they encountered was a Castle, much taller than any of them. It was lumbering down the corridor when the team encountered it. Undyne and Cohen summoned their Personas immediately, while Syphus prepared to analyze the enemy. Despite their obvious aggressiveness, the Castle didn't attack. It just glanced at them and, fearlessly, continued moving towards them, rather slowly and without making the least threatening movement with its cannons. It didn't even look at them while it passed aside them.

"What the…?" Cohen mumbled, watching the Castle walk away.

"Are you sure that wasn't a monster?" Undyne asked.

"Shadows try to kill us, Undyne, those are nowhere close to being monsters. They're no more than instinct" Syphus said.

It was a while before the found another Shadow, this time a Maya - a Cowardly Maya, Syphus remembered. It just looked at them and went away, not even having the decency to look scared or fearful. There's something off about all this.

"What are these tall flowers?" Ananas asked, pocketing her gun into its holster and approaching a few Echo Flowers growing near a river. Undyne, relieved she found something more or less familiar, approached.

"These flowers are pretty cool. I dunno how they work, but you say something in front of them, and they'll store what you said" she looked at the rest of the team "You think someone passed by and said something?"

"It's worth a try" Syphus said, touching the petals of an Echo Flower. The sound that came from it was low, almost like a whisper, and the voice was garbled. It was like there was static mixed in a recording. Syphus touched the flower again, trying to hear what it was saying.

"…C̸a̵l̶l̵ ̶f̸o̶r̸ ̴h̴e̸l̵p̴.̶ ̷I̶ ̵d̸a̴r̷e̴ ̷y̶o̷u̴..."

 _What the heck?!_ That sounded familiar. He hadn't heard it in person ever before, but he remembered someone saying something like that. It was Flowey, wasn't it? Why was Flowey's voice in an Echo Flower in a place where he clearly shouldn't ever be at? "Guys, check the other flowers"

Each flower had a different sentence, five of them from different people, two seemingly belonging to Undyne. Several were almost unintelligible.

"E̷n̶t̵r̷y̵ ̸n̴u̸m̷b̸e̵r̶ ̶1̸7̴"

"S̸o̴m̴e̴t̶i̶m̷e̷s̷ ̵i̴t̸ ̷e̵v̵e̸n̴ ̵c̷r̶a̸w̶l̶s̶ ̶i̶n̸t̸o̶ ̴m̴y̴ ̶b̸e̵d̶ ̶w̸h̵i̸l̶e̵ ̴I̵'̴m̸ ̴r̶e̶s̸t̷i̶n̷g̶"

"W̵e̷l̵l̸ ̶t̴h̷e̴n̵.̵.̵.̷t̴e̸l̴l̸ ̷y̶o̶u̴r̷ ̵f̷r̶i̴e̵n̷d̷s̵.̴.̷.̴"

"N̷y̵e̷h̵ ̸h̴e̷h̵ ̷h̴e̵h̵ ̵h̸e̸h̶ ̷h̷e̵h̵ ̴h̴e̸h̸ ̷h̸e̷h̶"

"T̶h̶e̵r̸e̷'̴s̸ ̵a̵n̵ ̶a̴n̷c̸i̶e̵n̶t̵ ̸p̴r̴o̵p̶h̶e̷c̸y̶ ̸a̵m̶o̶n̸g̷ ̴o̴u̴r̵ ̴p̷e̷o̸p̷l̷e̸.̸.̴.̸

Undyne blinked in confusion. "I said that to Frisk when I tried to fight him days ago!"

"That happened near Hotland, right?" Syphus mused. This flower was almost all the way to Snowdin, it was impossible it'd naturally pick up those words. They checked the rest of the flowers.

"W̶o̸u̴l̸d̶ ̶y̷o̶u̸ ̷s̶m̵o̷o̵c̴h̵ ̴a̸ ̸g̷h̸o̵s̵t̷?̶"

"A̵s̶ ̵l̶o̵n̴g̶ ̸a̷s̸ ̷y̸o̵u̵'̸r̷e̵ ̸G̴R̴E̷E̶N̸,̴ ̶y̶o̵u̷ ̷c̵a̷n̸'̶t̸ ̷e̷s̵c̶a̷p̶e̵!̵"

"I said that too!" Undyne exclaimed.

There were a few that were more puzzling than the rest, though. Not too far away, there was a large Echo Flower...or more like three Echo Flowers, growing on the same stem. The stem twisted and looped, having a hard time under the weight of three flowers. Parts of it seemed to be rotting. A bit wary of such a strange plant, Syphus pressed his fingers onto the petals of one of the flowers and listened:

"I̷t̷ ̸s̶o̷u̸n̷d̸s̸ ̸l̵i̴k̷e̶ ̷t̶h̶e̴r̶e̶ ̷i̶s̷ ̵a̶ ̸w̶h̵o̷l̷e̷ ̴s̸t̸o̶r̵y̴ ̶b̶e̵h̸i̷n̸d̸ ̷t̷h̵i̴s̶.̶ ̸W̷e̶ ̸s̴h̴o̸u̷l̸d̵ ̷l̴i̸s̷t̶e̸n̵ ̴t̷o̷ ̶o̵u̴r̸ ̸s̸o̴n̷ ̴f̵i̸r̵s̵t̸.̴ ̴H̸o̵w̶ ̸i̷s̸ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̸h̸u̴m̶a̶n̴ ̶a̶d̸u̶l̵t̵ ̶f̵e̴e̷l̵i̸n̸g̵ ̶n̸o̴w̶?̶ ̵D̷o̴ ̴y̴o̴u̶ ̵t̷h̵i̶n̶k̴ ̴h̵e̵ ̸c̸o̵u̶l̶d̷ ̶b̵e̶…̸d̴a̶n̴g̵e̸r̷o̴u̸s̷?̵" Syphus inhaled noisily and let go of the flower, a strange feeling of emptiness filling him. He recognized the voice as Asgore's. The piece touched the second flower.

"W̸h̴y̵ ̵n̶o̸t̷?̴ ̴I̷t̶ ̶i̶s̵ ̸a̷ ̶s̵i̵g̵n̶ ̴o̷f̴ ̷g̸o̴o̷d̴ ̶w̵i̸l̵l̴,̴ ̷l̶e̵t̷ ̸A̸s̵r̴i̵e̶l̵ ̴h̸a̴v̵e̶ ̵h̷i̵s̷ ̶c̴a̶n̸d̶y̴" Ciruel said that. It was impossible he had ever been in contact with Asriel. The only time he thought that could have happened was during the original timeline. Could it really be that bits and pieces of what happened during that timeline were present in wherever they were at right now?

That was confirmed by the last Echo Flower:

"Y̶o̷u̷ ̷w̷o̸n̵'̸t̴ ̸t̴e̴l̷l̸ ̸t̶h̶e̴m̴.̴ ̸W̴e̸ ̴h̸a̶v̸e̷ ̶e̷n̸o̴u̵g̴h̷ ̷p̴r̴o̴b̶l̵e̵m̶s̶ ̶a̶l̵r̷e̵a̸d̶y̸,̷ ̴w̴e̷ ̶d̶o̴n̵'̵t̵ ̶n̵e̶e̷d̴ ̶y̴o̵u̴ ̵t̵o̶ ̸a̸d̶d̸ ̶m̵o̴r̴e̷"

That was his own voice, saying something he had never said before.

He suspected they were all connected to the person whose memories he had right now, to his master, Sisyphus. Hearing all those voices…Syphus felt a lingering feeling of affection towards all of them, towards the humans, towards Frisk, towards Asriel. He knew the only reason why Sisyphus was getting himself involved in all this mess was to help them.

Still… "It's impossible all these people passed through here, talking" he said.

"Are you sure? What's this place, anyway?" Ananas wondered.

"I don't know! That's what we're here to find out, so let's get going" he stepped away from the Echo Flowers, wondering what they'd find further away. He calculated they were close to arriving to Snowdin. Did Snowdin even exist?

It did. Cohen stepped out of Waterfall, blinking at what he found. It was the unmistakable cold air of Snowdin – even though he had never been in this part of the Underground, he had heard many tales about Snowdin. Toriel was found of talking about the Underground, she described Snowdin so vividly Cohen had often wished he could see the place by himself.

Now that he was standing near it, he wished he was far, far away, or at least in the real Snowdin. "...seems safe" he said to the team, stepping further away from the cavern to take a better look.

Snowdin was located in a large space, so large some people may even think it was an open area instead of it all being underground. To the team, it was hard to think it really was an enclosed area. The roof of the cave, so far above their heads, was...gone? It was difficult to know for sure. What was even more unusual was that that dark space wasn't empty. Not only the purple fog swirled way above their heads, looking denser then near the ground, there were also many golden thread-like...things crossing the emptiness. "This is Snowdin? It's s-s-s-so cold...!" Ananas shivered.

"No, this can't be Snowdin. This is nothing like Snowdin!" Undyne denied categorically, and she was wrong. Other than the fog and the threads, it was a perfect copy of Snowdin, to the minimal detail. A couple Shadows could be seen along the main street, moving slowly and aimlessly. There was something more important than those, though:

Snowdin wasn't uninhabited. From where the team was standing, they could see shapes in the distance. "That's odd...we didn't encounter anyone in Waterfall" Syphus said.

"Usually you won't stumble upon anyone unless you're going to one of the villages in that part of the Underground, it's not like not finding anyone was strange" Undyne seemed rather happy to see monsters not too far away "The problem is how we'll get you guys into Snowdin without anyone seeing you. Look at yourselves, you don't have armor anymore"

"We'll be okay. The guards at the headquarters said the monsters in Snowdin were being...um..." How to say it without throwing the guards at Snowdin under the bus? "...tolerant of human presence in the town. I'm not saying we should just walk into the town, but we won't have too much trouble if we're found out"

Cohen thought for a moment, kicking some snow to a side of the road. "Undyne and you should go check the town. Go see if it's safe for us to go in"

"I like that idea. Syphus, turn into a monster" Undyne ordered. Syphus took out the firefly brooch, staring at it and shaking his head.

"I'm not sure that'd be a good idea. I don't know what effect using the brooch in here would have" he said. Undyne shook her head, disapproving.

"Whatever. We still need to go check. Cohen, Annie, wait here. We'll return if it's safe" Having decided their next course of action, Syphus and Undyne approached the town, Undyne walking ahead. Once they were passing by the skeletons' house, Syphus hid behind the shed, peeking from behind. There were a few monsters not too far away, so Undyne nodded at him. "I have this under control" she assured him, and started walking by, trying to take a look at the monsters.

None of them said a single word to her. Undyne wasn't very knowledgeable about Snowdin's residents, but she recognized them. The mouse with that long scarf and the jester that always stood nearby were there, seemingly ignoring her. She didn't look at them, trying not to look like she was staring at people, and, to look natural, she peered through the window of the inn, looking towards the reception, as if she was pondering if she should spend a night in the inn. Undyne put her hands against the glass and looked inside, holding her breath to not fog the glass.

The inside of the inn looked normal, nothing unusual. The innkeeper was behind the counter, moving a bit stiffly, looking through her guestbook. There were no traces of the innkeeper's son. Undyne wondered for a moment if she should enter, when the innkeeper looked up.

Her eyes were golden. Undyne hissed between her teeth, stepping back. She glanced towards the two monsters nearby, finding they were looking at her. They had yellow eyes too. Neither of them tried to say anything to her, they didn't try to approach. For a moment the three of them stared at each other, the captain feeling a shiver that had nothing to do with Snowdin's cold climate. Slowly, she moved in direction of the skeletons' house, getting behind the shed.

"Well?" Syphus asked.

"Something weird is going on. Everyone has yellow eyes, and they didn't even try to say anything to me. What's going on here?" she informed. Syphus crossed his arms, chewing his lip and organizing his thoughts.

"...they may be these monsters' Shadow Selves" he explained Shadow Selves in few words. Undyne didn't fully understand, but she thought she grasped more or less what he meant.

"So the monsters over there are the hidden sides of those same monsters? I'm not sure I get it but you know more than me" she stared at him for a moment "Wait, I thought those were only in people's souls, not wherever we are right now"

"I know as little as you do, Undyne!"

Confused, the two of them returned to Cohen and Ananas. Ananas had built a snowman, placing her hat on its head. When Undyne and Syphus returned, she approached them. "How'd it go, pardners?" They explained the situation quickly, remarking how there were Shadow Selves in the town.

"Could it be we are in a soul right now?" Cohen wondered.

"That's impossible. I have the brooch right here" Syphus showed it, it wasn't even pinned to his shirt "And we're definitely not inside my soul" Could someone with a Persona have an antagonistic Shadow? He didn't know, and this wasn't the time to think about that, anyway. Undyne explained what she saw. Everyone was a bit wary of going into Snowdin now that they knew there were several Shadow Selves in there. "Okay, what are we going to do now?"

"If they're not attacking then we can get in there, right?" Ananas wondered "We should explore and find something about what's going on"

"If we take too long some monster may get into this weird place. Let's hurry up" Cohen said, his deep raspy voice sounded tense. Something about what Cohen said made Undyne get defensive. She crossed her arms, raising her eyebrows.

"My guards know what they're doing. If I tell them to not let anyone pass, they won't let anyone pass"

Syphus looked down the street, towards the blurry shapes in the distance. _Shadow Selves, huh..._ "If this town is full of the Shadows of monsters who live here...hm..." he tilted his head "Let's visit the skeletons"

"Why do you want to meet their Shadows?" Cohen asked. Syphus pursed his lips, unsure if they'd agree with his reasoning, but he spoke, nonetheless.

"I'd like to see Sans' Shadow. I don't know how aware he'll be of the other world, but if there's someone who can tells us about this place, it's him" It was a long shot, but in Syphus' opinion, it was worth a try. What other option did they have? The rest of the team was rather hesitant about going to see someone's Shadow Self, but they ended acquiescing to Syphus' suggestion.

"We better not have to fight him. I don't want to fight Sans" Undyne said, passing a hand over her face.

"At the first sign of hostility we'll all get away. There's no reason for us to fight anyone"

Cohen, still shivering from the cold, rubbed his gloved hands together, trying to warm up. "Okay, let's get going before I freeze on the spot! Where does this Sans guy live?"

The skeletons' house looked like normal. Christmas lights hung from the roof, one of the mailboxes was filled to the brim with letters. Ananas carefully put her hands against the glass of the window and pressed her face onto it, peering inside. "I don't see anyone"

"What about the shed?"

"There's nobody inside the shed, I already checked" Syphus said, testing the door. It was locked. He knocked once, twice, and waited, while Undyne watched out for anyone hostile going towards where they were at now. Nobody opened the door "This is going nowhere"

Ananas rubbed her face, she looked red from the cold air "Then let's break the window and go inside!"

"If we're sure that's what we have to do..." Undyne stepped to the edge of the forest, positioning herself directly in front of the window. She took a deep breath, grit her teeth and started running at full speed towards the window, shouting all the while. "NGAAAAAAH!" she roared, jumping and smashing through the window, the glass falling in pieces. She fell heavily on the floor, splintering the wood, and shook off herself bits of glass. "It's done! Come in!"

"...okay, that was effective" Syphus commented, trying to suppress the wide grin he had on his face. Wanton destruction shouldn't be something to cheer on! He carefully removed the remaining pieces of glass from the windowsill and helped Ananas pass over it, making sure she wouldn't get cut.

Once the team was standing in the living room of the house, they all looked around, a tad confused. "You'd think after breaking the window in such a noisy way they'd come to see what's going on" Cohen said, peeking into the kitchen "There's nobody in there"

"They could be in their bedrooms" Syphus guessed, stomping up the stairs in an effort to get the skeletons' Shadows out. Nothing happened _. Where are they...?_ he thought, opening the door of Papyrus' room. He wasn't there. A quick search of the room revealed nothing, Shadow Papyrus simply wasn't anywhere.

He had been crawling on the floor under the desk, trying to see if there was anything useful or interesting in there, when he heard the noise of someone throwing themselves onto a door. Startled, he jumped up, hitting the back of his head. "Wait, I'm going-!" he ran out of the room, rubbing the sore spot on his head with one hand and summoning Fortuna. Nobody was getting attacked, nor there was any danger. Syphus' hasty exit from Papyrus' room didn't surprise anyone, Undyne continued slamming the door with her shoulder until, with a loud _crack_ , the lock broke. "What the...?"

"Sans isn't here!" Undyne declared, entering the bedroom "Where are they?!"

"They could be somewhere else in Snowdin" Cohen suggested, but he didn't look very enthusiastic about having to explore the town. Hesitant and wrinkling his nose with some disgust at the state of Sans' bedroom, he looked around. The mattress, the greasy bedsheet balled up on the bed, the tornado of trash Ananas was staring at with befuddlement...it all seemed rather normal.

"Search this room and Papyrus' room. There could be something telling where they are" Syphus requested. The two humans in the group went to Papyrus' room, while Undyne and Syphus search through Sans' room.

"How does Sans sleep in a place like this?" Undyne shook her hands as if she couldn't get grime off her gauntlets, she had just handled the mattress on the floor.

"I have no idea, but Papyrus said—"

"Wait a second, that's right!" she turned her head around "How do you know Papyrus and Sans? I thought I was going to introduce them to you for the first time!" Syphus froze. He had talked too much.

"...yeah, I knew them already"

"Why didn't you tell me that?" Undyne approached "Do your friends know you have been in Snowdin before?" she supposed that if Syphus knew the skeletons, then that meant he had been here before. Syphus didn't reply, just staring at the floor. Undyne put a hand on Syphus' shoulder, trying to be comforting "I dunno how long you have been leading this team, but I think you should keep as few secrets as possible. That's what I do with my guards, and that's why I wanted to tell them about Frisk. You have to trust each other"

"...I understand" Syphus managed to smile weakly "I'll keep that in mind"

"That's what I wanted to hear! Now let's keep searching and get the hell out of here" she returned to the search. Syphus didn't move for a while longer, conflicted. He knew Undyne was right, that he should be more honest with the team he was relying on, but he had already taken steps to conceal some important stuff. Hadn't he changed their own actions after getting killed by Shadow Undyne so he wouldn't be revealed to Ananas and Cohen as a Shadow? Sure, arriving quicker to the barrier had been a reason, but the main reason always had been to hide that detail about himself.

"...there are some things that are better to keep secret, I'd say" he mumbled and continued searching. Not too long after that, he found a key stashed in a drawer. He took it, lifting it in the air and turning it around in his fingers. It took him a moment to remember what that key opened "Undyne, there's one last place to check" he notified, exiting Sans' bedroom and getting Ananas and Cohen to follow them. Even though Undyne asked what he meant, Syphus just told her to follow him.

The team exited the house and went to the back, where they found a short stairway descending from the surface to a small empty space deep in the snow. "That's the basement, right?" Ananas tried to confirm.

"I guess it is. The key was in Sans' room" Syphus inserted the key into the lock and turned it, pushing it open slowly. The inside of the basement was pitch black. Syphus searched the wall for a light switch, finding it quickly, and flipped it. The stairs went down until it reached the basement, the team descended and observed their surroundings.

Sans' laboratory was rather small. The floor was covered with a thick layer of dust; the worktable was empty. Cohen searched the drawers, finding them empty. "Whoever we're searching for is not down here" he said the obvious. Still, examining the place could be worth it.

Ananas saw something in the corner, something large under a white sheet. "Guys, look at this thing" she said, grabbing the sheet and pulling, taking it off the large machine it was covering. "What is this?"

"Some sort of machine. Sans must have created it" Syphus looked at it carefully. There was a large screen and a keyboard. Slowly, he pressed a random key, trying to see what'd happen. The screen lit up, revealing some sort of complicated set up. Thousands of golden lines, placed like a list, most of them looked like they were dissolving. "I have no idea what I'm looking at"

"Those look like the lines on the sky out there" Cohen noted, but beyond that, no one in the team was sure what they were. _We have found zero answers about what this whole place is_... as a whole, the search for answers had been a failure, it had only left them with more questions than answers. "Are we going back now?"

"I guess I'll have to keep guards in that place for a while" Undyne decided, ascending the stairs out of the laboratory while the others placed the sheet back on the machine. She walked to the front of the house, looking up at the ceiling in the cavern – the "sky", as Cohen had called it – and confirming that yes, lots of golden lines crossed it. Not even the purple fog could hide that.

That's when she noticed something had changed in Snowdin: all the Shadows were gone, both the Shadow Selves and the roaming Shadows. Undyne walked a bit deeper into Snowdin, until she reached a bifurcation in the road. There was no sign of anyone's presence, but something in her gave her a bad feeling. It felt like something large and terrifying was approaching, getting closer and closer. Beads of sweat covered her head, she wiped them and returned to the skeletons' house, walking quickly. "Get going!" she shouted at the others, who were just ascending the stairs. Ananas stood still once she reached the surface.

"G-Guys, do you feel that?"

At that point, Syphus involuntarily shivered, and not because of the cold. It felt like something was scrambling his insides, like he knew something horrible was about to happen and he was bracing for it. He doubled over, getting tense. "I feel something. What's going on?"

"Nothing good, that's for sure" Cohen frowned. He considered summoning his Persona, but it felt like that'd be a bad decision. The four of them got in middle of the road, looking around. Snowflakes swirled around them, the timelines seemed to dim, the feeling of dread intensified.

Undyne was prepared. She looked around, watching carefully for any movements. She materialized a spear, getting ready for a confrontation. There, in middle of the road, was a silhouette that hadn't been before. "Over there" she whispered to the others, pointing with her head in the right direction.

It was a short person. "Could it be Sans?" Syphus wondered.

"No. Too short to be Sans"

The form continued approaching them, walking slowly, inexorably. A miasma of profound despair washed over them, it took the team all the willpower they had to not turn around and run. The person got close enough for them to finally distinguish who it was. "Frisk?" Ananas said aloud. Undyne turned her head towards Ananas, wondering how she knew Frisk, but she didn't say anything.

"It can't be them" Syphus said with certainty. It just couldn't be them! They didn't give this despairing and intense aura!

"It could be their Shadow" Cohen hadn't ever met the kid, but he instinctively knew something was deeply wrong.

"That's impossible. I already fought their Shadow. They should be inside Frisk's soul, anyway"

Undyne hissed between her teeth. "Then think of some other explanation, because it's coming straight towards us!"

The…being shambled towards them, head looking at the snow, their hair covering their eyes. The closer it got, the more intense the sensations of nausea and despair felt. In the silence that enveloped Snowdin, the team heard the voice of that thing, even though it was some distance away. Its voice was garbled, high-pitched, yet everyone understood what it was mumbling.

"…Snowdin. Store. Cinnamon bun. Bisicle. Bisicle. Minus fifty gold. Inn. Yes. Minus eighty gold. Plus eighty gold. Up. Snowdin. Up. River. Down. Snowdin. Down. Snowdin. Right. Snowdin. CHECK. Talk. I can make spaghetti. Insult. Spare. Spare. Spare. Spare. Spare. Spare. Spare. Spare. Spare. Spare. Spare. Spare. Spare. Spare. Spare. Spare. Spare. Spare. Spare. Spare. Left. Snowdin.

Repeat.

Snowdin. Store. Cinnamon…"

The team looked at each other with confusion. "What's going on…?" Syphus muttered.

"I think it's going towards Waterfall. If it gets out of wherever we are—" Undyne started, but she didn't finish the sentence.

"We're not letting that happen" Cohen said bluntly, stepping in middle of the road. Undyne followed him, Syphus and Ananas hesitated before doing the same.

The being kept moving, ignoring them until it was a few feet away from the team. It raised its head, looking at the team with a strange stare. Looking at its eyes felt like staring at a deep pit of tar. "…are you…getting in the way?"

"So what if we are?" Ananas managed to hide how she almost stammered such defiant behavior.

"Go away. I have to see Papyrus" it tried to look between the team "He's over there"

Cohen turned his head around. There was nobody behind them. "You're not going anywhere"

The being didn't seem worried at all at the team's efforts. It tilted its head, looking almost innocent, and blinked owlishly. "You...are trying to stop the sequence of events?"

"What events?" Undyne demanded to know.

"The sequence of events. It's almost always the same" it looked at Undyne "What...are you...doing here? I thought you...you would be at Waterfall?"

Undyne aimed the spear at the being, looking prepared to throw it at any moment. "Who are you?!"

The being ignored the question, instead walking forward again. "Step aside. It's not your turn yet"

"We're not going anywhere until you answer a few questions" Syphus said, raising the halberd as a warning. The being ignored that, again trying to advance forward, when Undyne made several magic spears materialize from the ground, forming a wall in front of the being. It stopped, looking at the highest point of the wall, with a blank expression on their face.

"...you're trying to stop me?"

"So what if we are?" Ananas yelled again, imitating her teammates and aiming with her gun at the being. The being finally stepped back. Its edges looked blurry, like the being was getting out of focus. Black ooze dripped from its fingers, falling onto the snow in heavy drops, like treacle. The being's expression never changed, always blank.

"I can't let you do that. That's not what should happen" it said. In a way it sounded rather familiar to Syphus. That sounded similar to what Shadow Frisk had said, but there was something different about how the being spoke. There was coldness in its voice, instead of the more personable tone Shadow Frisk had used. Syphus almost felt like it wasn't defying them because it wanted to keep the same routine, it was more like...

...more like that was just how the being was, as if repeating the same events over and over was how it existence was like. It was as if the being refused to move onto something different, always doing the same familiar situations and actions. It did fit Frisk's Shadow's thoughts, it kind of explained why the being looked like Frisk, but at the same time it seemed to be much more determined to stay on the same track.

"Step aside!" it suddenly roared, splashing more of its black ooze everywhere. Its torso was growing in size, expanding upwards and bloating. Horrified, the team stepped back, unable to look anywhere else.

"What the hell...?" Undyne said under her breath, eye wide open. Right then, any features the being had that resembled Frisk disappeared. The ooze bubbled, morphing and swelling, taking rounder shapes _. Hm?_ Something golden and long emerged from the core of the creature, wrapping around itself like a cable. Something about it seemed familiar, and it didn't take long for him to notice what it was. It was the same than the golden threads high in the sky, the same than what represented timelines in Sans' machine. The being wasn't a Shadow, or anything like that.

It was the personification of a timeline. There was no time to think how that was possible, the being lurched forward.

The being was repulsive. Clusters of glowing pulsating spheres, crisscrossed by golden veins, were gathered into a large bulging mound, vaguely resembling a brain. In the midst of it all there was a large eye, staring at the team unblinkingly. The stem that held the clusters was robust, of a nasty bluish color, with appendages that allowed the being to slowly move.

It didn't say anything before striking. From behind the creature, the air took a greenish tint, forming a cyclone that rammed onto the team, a tornado that aimed towards all of them. "Move!" Syphus shouted, diving to a side. He hoped everyone else had the time to dodge, that the incredibly loud noise of breaking stone and trees falling down didn't foreshadow anyone's demise.

"Everyone okay?!" Undyne checked, standing up and summoning her Persona, Geiravor rising high into the air.

From a side came Cohen's awed exclamation: "We're dealing with something extraordinarily dangerous, guys!" It was easy to see what he meant.

The floor of the cavern, usually rather tough, had been torn apart, a wide trench formed right into the bedrock, so deep anyone would have a hard time getting out of there. "Some wind did _that_?"

"Stay away from its wind magic, Undyne!" If it was that potent, it'd obliterate Undyne. Panicking a bit while the creature started gathering wind over itself again, Syphus ran towards the trees on the untouched side of the road, hiding behind the sturdiest one he could see. Gripping the bark, he peered outside, where the creature had just fired a large gust of wind towards Geiravor. The Persona barely dodged, rising higher into the air. "Analyze it! What's this thing?" Syphus shouted, waiting for the female voice that always replied to his request.

Nothing happened.

The creature turned its eye towards Syphus. Feeling like his heart had leaped into his throat, Syphus yelped and ran among the trees in direction of Waterfall, hearing how the trees shattered in pieces right behind him. "Come on, analyze! Now! Please, analyze!"

There was only silence in his head. _Something is very wrong here!_

"Got anything to say?" Cohen requested, throwing his fists down with frustration. He couldn't approach yet to give that thing a good punch.

"My analysis isn't working!"

"Then we'll have to play by ear. Let's attack and never stop"

"We need some help here!" Undyne shouted, gathering as many spears as she could in the air before making all of them strike the creature, while Ananas hid behind her and shot her gun over and over, making sure to stay as close to the ground as possible. The creature bent back, forming an arch, and jumped high in the air and away from all the projectiles, trying to land on Undyne and Ananas. Undyne grabbed Ananas by the back of her vest and jumped out of the way, dragging her back. Without missing a beat, Ananas got Hippolyta to bat the creature with the axe – with a disgusting _squelch_ , the creature crashed against the snow.

Syphus took a quick decision. "You're right. Everyone! Hit that thing with all you have! Attack!"

A bright circle formed underneath Cohen, a pillar of fire grew and reached the swirling clouds high in the cavern, enveloping Cohen with flames. Seconds later, when the fire vanished, they all saw Cohen crouched, his Persona protecting him and shining red hot, covering him like a dome of brass and steel. "I'm okay!" he said, looking singed, pointing forward and sending Ajax to attack while it was still searing hot.

The more they fought, the clearer the creature's weakness was. Even though it had extremely powerful magic, it seemed unable to attack everyone at the same time. It was always forced to focus on a single person. Geiravor spun its spear, ice crystals enveloping the creature and hurting it, while Syphus stayed in the back, on healing duty. "It's aiming at you!" Ananas warned him, stopping her attacks to look for cover, but she was wrong.

Without warning, the pulsating orbs opened, releasing greenish gas that enveloped everyone, making them cough. Syphus' eyes watered, he struggled to breath, the gas was so thick he didn't see the creature approaching until it was close enough to smack him. A tendril appeared out of nowhere and hit him right in the face, throwing him aside, a second blow buried him into the snow. "That was poison!" Cohen yelled, looking feverish. Undyne had been poisoned as well.

Defeating it quickly was the priority now. "Hit it—" he didn't finish his sentence before he realized the creature had deceived them all. It was true it didn't have any magic attacks that would hit everyone...but it had physical attacks to compensate that. All of its tendrils raised into the air, large meteors appearing in the air above them. _You have to be kidding!_

Spears materialized around the team, Undyne roared and sent all of them into the incoming meteors. No meteor was destroyed, but the spears were enough to deviate the rocks away from them. Meteors crashed among the trees, a cacophony of plants being crushed and breaking filled the air. "What are you waiting for? Punch it or something!" Undyne spurred them. They didn't have to be told twice, the rest ran forward, slipping on the ice and trying to close the distance between them and the creature.

The eye underneath the cluster lit up, the whole eye shining white. Sensing danger, Undyne got Geiravor ready. "All of you, get down!" she shouted. Everyone else threw themselves to the ground while Geiravor floated over them, bending forward until the tip of the spear touched the snow, and traced a line from side to side of the road. A thick block of ice emerged from the ground and snow at the nick of time, right before the creature shot a beam of what seemed to be concentrated light. The beam collided with the ice, smashing it into pieces, but didn't hurt anyone in the team.

"It must be getting desperate!" Syphus judged. Why else would it be pulling out the big guns so suddenly? The creature's eye turned bright white again, but before it could fire, Ananas aimed and shot at the eye. The bullet bounced on the eye, but that was enough to distract the creature, the eye returned to normal. Syphus jumped forward, cleaving with the halberd, with Cohen following him some steps behind. With every swing, the creature moved back further away, passing in front of the skeletons' house. Every time it got ready to shoot the beam again, Ananas countered with a bullet, and Undyne destroyed the meteors every time those appeared again. Undyne was having trouble staying on her feet, but Ananas stayed in the back with her, having trouble holding her up because of her weight.

The cluster that formed the enemy's head was pulsing less than before, the golden veins were dim now. It batted its tendrils towards Syphus, a large green spiral forming in front of him and disappearing. That was followed by a large vortex of wind appearing above him, descending like a drill piercing the sky. "No!" he couldn't stop himself from shouting and raising his arms and halberd as if trying to stop the wind spell from reaching him. The wind hit him, pushing him into the ground. His arms ached, the halberd had bent a bit despite being made with sturdy steel. Sensing it had the upper hand for a moment, the creature again tried to strike him with wind, the drill appearing again to repeat the move.

Ajax shielded him, jumping and forming a sturdy arch over his head with the armor plates on its shoulder and back. "Are you okay?" Cohen extended his hands to get him out of where the attack had hit before, and looked up "That thing's resisting everything we have. If we don't defeat it soon, we'll lose once we get tired"

"We don't have many options—" he was interrupted when the creature's beam hit the skeletons' house, demolishing a large part of it. Bits of wood and furniture fell through the hole, other parts of the house fell apart on the other side "It's going to destroy the town!"

"Undyne and I are _poisoned._ We don't have that much time left either" he slashed pieces of debris that were propelled towards them by the creature's wind "I know you can revive us if anything happens, but I'd rather not die, okay?"

"I'm thinking, I'm thinking!" Syphus looked around. Geiravor tackled the creature, the Persona's large mount hitting the foe like a truck. Ananas was having a bit of trouble, having slipped on the snow and struggling to get up. "Going to Waterfall's not an option. If we could throw it off a cliff or something like that..."

"How about a river?"

"What?"

Cohen pointed down the road at the bifurcation. "I think there's a river over there. I dunno what that thing we're fighting is, but I doubt it knows how to swim"

Syphus poked the creature with the spike of his halberd once it got too close. Cohen's idea wasn't bad; it was better than anything Syphus could think right now. "Got it. Tell Undyne and Annie the plan, I'll hold this thing back" he requested, changing Personas to heal everyone. As a farewell for now, Cohen increased Syphus' defense and moved to where Ananas and Undyne were at, keeping his Persona prepared to defend the leader if necessary. "Persona!" Syphus yelled, his current healing Persona revitalizing Undyne, just in case.

The good thing about being four versus one, was that it was easy to watch out for attacks. Even though the creature continued trying its toughest attacks, Undyne and Ananas were doing a good job getting rid of the worst part of it all, keeping the creature distracted and destroying its most potent moves with their gun and spears. The creature slid over the ice and snow, reaching the shore of the river. Floes flowed down the river, looking so unstable nobody could stand up on them. Growing more desperate, the creature summoned thunder from the ceiling of the cave, striking Cohen without much effect. "I got this!" Ananas claimed, managing to summon Hippolyta and hitting the creature, knocking it right in the middle of the water.

"We have that thing right where we wanted"

"I'm ready!" Undyne informed, standing at the edge and aiming with her spears. To her side, Ananas prepared her gun, ready to shoot at the creature the moment it tried to move too far away. The enemy attempted to get onto a floe, grabbing it with its tendrils and pretty much dragging itself onto the surface of the ice "You're not getting away!" she proclaimed, smashing the floe with a spear, breaking it into small pieces. The creature splashed in the water, disoriented, unsure of what to do or where to go.

"Let's end this, Cohen" Syphus held Cohen, he was starting to be too weak to stay on his feet. The old man nodded and made sure he wasn't standing on the edge of the water before summoning his Persona.

"Electric magic and water don't mix well, right?"

"I guess so. We'll find out now. At the same time, okay?"

Above them, Ajax and Fortuna appeared, side to side and towering over the river. At once, Cohen and Syphus gave their orders, with no hesitation.

"Persona!"

"Fry it, Ajax!"

Fortuna's wheel spun at high speeds, Ajax raised its sword and pointed upwards. It was as if the world had shattered in two. From the swirling clouds above their heads, two large bolts of thunder descended, hitting the water at once. The water was covered with visible sparks, it sizzled like hot cooking oil, the enemy inside it wasn't able to get out in time. The creature was paralyzed, shaking a bit and bobbing in the water like a ship capsizing...

"...Ruins…Snowdin…Waterfall…Hotland…New Home…the end...Ruins…?" it droned a few times before it started breaking into pieces. It was different than when Shadows died. Instead of disappearing in wisps of smoke, the creature broke apart into flakes, scattering in the wind. The golden veins that used to cover it dissolved and turned into dust, the rest of the creature withered into nothing. Soon there was nothing left, not even an object or anything they could use in their spear. The river kept flowing uninterrupted.

"It's over, right? It's not going to appear bigger and more powerful than before, right?" Undyne wheezed, approaching. Now that there was no danger, Syphus could properly treat Undyne and Cohen's poisoning.

"It _should_ be over now" Syphus said. Undyne grinned, laughing a bit.

"So this is the kind of thing I got myself into. This rules! I hadn't been in a fight like this one since a long time ago!"

"We're going to have many more. We still need seven pieces more for whatever Alphys is doing" Cohen reminded them, receiving the tea that'd heal him.

"You guys weren't half-bad at fighting! Of course you're not up to the standards of the Royal Guard, but you can hold your ground against—"

Her praise was interrupted by a rumbling and a noise like an explosion. Scared, Syphus dove into the snow, thinking the creature had returned somehow, but nothing attacked them. _What's going on now?!_

"…guys…the sky. Look at the sky" Ananas said, unsure of what she was seeing. Hesitating a bit, Syphus looked up, seeing what she meant. It wasn't surprising Ananas sounded astonished, what was happening up there was something he didn't think was possible.

The golden threads were exploding.

Even through the purple mist that permeated the area, they could see the golden threads shattered, exploding noisily. One after another time threads were gone, nothing replaced them. "Did we cause that?" Cohen asked Syphus urgently, helping him to stand up.

"I don't know! I think—"

"We must have done that! That thing that attacked us was covered in golden stuff like those!" Undyne answered, all Syphus did was nod stupidly.

"Y-Yeah, that's what I was thinking" he covered his ears after a particularly loud burst above them "We have to get out of here! I have a bad feeling about this!"

"Understood" Undyne crouched near Ananas "Get on and hang tight, punk!" she advised, Ananas jumped on Undyne's back and held from the front of Undyne's armor shoulder pads "Start running!" she said to Syphus and Cohen, and darted forward, her footing stable on the slippery ground.

Nobody knew how much time they had. The explosions weren't stopping, they all had lost count how many had happened so far. When it all stopped, did that mean they'd stay trapped in that bizarre version of the Underground? Had they really been the direct cause of what was happening. Syphus wasn't sure, but he had the feeling they were. He tried very hard to ignore how much his legs ached, how he wanted to sit down and rest, but there was no time for that, they all had to get out. Cohen was resisting amazingly well for someone of his age, not stopping even though he looked to be on the verge of collapsing. Undyne ran with ease, not even breaking a sweat, while Ananas held for dear life onto her.

Even in Waterfall they could hear the golden threads exploding, like they were embedded inside the walls. The tunnels shook, dust and pieces of rock fell from the ceiling and the walls. "How much longer…?" Cohen wasn't able to finish the sentence, he didn't have the breath for that.

"It's right over there!" Undyne said, running faster and leaving them behind, once she was close to the boundary, she jumped, crossing it and landing on the ground with a crunching noise, falling onto her knees and hands, panting. Syphus and Cohen arrived a couple seconds later, falling to the floor near her. _I'm never going to run like this ever again…_ Syphus thought, for a moment wondering if he could afford to lie down for a couple days.

It was quiet. The only sound he could hear was the blood rushing behind his ears. The explosions, all the cacophony they may have caused, it was all gone. "Are there any other nasty surprises left?" Cohen wondered, sounding exhausted.

"Who knows…" Undyne didn't seem in a hurry to return where the boundary was or had been, but Ananas, the only one who wasn't tired at all, sauntered towards that point. "Wait, I should be the one to check"

"I'll be fine. I'm the guardian of the human village" she said, determined, and passed through the place everyone calculated the boundary was at. She didn't disappear or look any different than normal. Did that mean the boundary was gone? Ananas walked further, looking around carefully "…I don't see anything strange"

"Annie, can you hear me?" Syphus called.

"I hear you!"

"Look for water. Do you see any drops frozen in mid-air? Is the water of the river flowing?"

Ananas put her hand into the water, she could feel the current. "Yeah, it's moving!" _So whatever we used to enter whatever place that was is now gone..._ Was that a direct consequence of the destruction they had unintentionally caused? Most likely. What would be the consequences of whatever they broke being gone? And that other version of Papyrus and Sans' house, it had been destroyed too. What if it changed something in the real world?

"Let's go to Snowdin"

"Right now? I know we have the armors and we'll be safe, but why?" Cohen asked.

"I want to make sure Sans and Papyrus are okay" he said. That got Undyne on board with the plan, and Ananas did want to see the real Snowdin – "I know someone who lives there, I want to see him" she had said – so Cohen was outnumbered. The group hurried through the last part of Waterfall, once again feeling the growing familiarity of Snowdin's cold climate.

-ooooo-

It was like watching a fireworks display. Even through the purple fog, the timelines were rather visible, exploding and shattering in pieces that'd disappear. One after another, the timelines were destroyed. There were dozens of thousands of timelines still left, glowing and crossing the void from one side to the other. Lucia couldn't hear most of the noise, but she imagined it was rather loud.

She barely could see Mt. Ebott in the distance. It was a bit surreal to imagine some of the pieces had entered the collective unconscious, that if they knew the way theoretically they could reach her mansion, but that wasn't something to be worried about. Her mansion was suspended rather high from the ground, from the human city underneath, her Hopeful Star was like a completely different world, as far as she was concerned. For a moment she wondered if Sisyphus would recognize the mansion itself if he looked at it from the distance. She was a tad amazed he hadn't made the connection long ago. ASRIEL had recognized it immediately.

In his own words: "This is near where I had met Frisk for the first time"

"Really? Are you sure about that?"

"Yes. I remember it clearly!"

And then she had once again tried to correct his dissonant memories. Nobody appreciated how hard she worked. It was hard to keep everything going, to keep ASRIEL stable enough for him to not reverse into the soulless version she had raised for ten years without Sisyphus finding out. In a way, it was interesting to watch ASRIEL try to cope with the memories of a completely different version of himself, to have the soul of a version ten years younger, and from a timeline that wildly differed from the one she had obtained the Asriel she had raised.

So far, it was going surprisingly well. During the game all the problems ASRIEL had gotten so far were about his other version's feelings contradicting his own. True, ASRIEL didn't want to hurt anyone, but he wanted to carry the game to its conclusion. To him, Sisyphus was more like an acquaintance to rely on for that. Asriel, though, he didn't want to meddle with anyone's lives, and wanted to reach out to Sisyphus as a friend. The only thing both versions had in common were their feelings towards Frisk, and their gratitude towards Lucia.

"It's nice when things are going nicely" Lucia stood up, smoothing her dress over her legs "Everyone's always so cooperative!"

With one last look towards the mountain in the distance and at remaining timelines she could see from where she was, she returned to the inside of the mansion.

-ooooo-

Sans' first thought was that the machine was malfunctioning. That was a ridiculous thought! Malfunctioning, this? No, that was very unlikely. In that case, what he was seeing was rather alarming: timelines disappearing one after the other. The readings showed they were gone, completely gone, not even a trace remained. Every second, dozens of timelines were eliminated, until, after several minutes, it stopped. Moving quickly, Sans pressed a few buttons, getting the data he was looking for.

In just a few minutes, a third of the existent timelines were gone.

Sans tapped the screen, finding the current timeline. It had returned to its by-now familiar instability, instead of looking like it was about to break reality in half. He wasn't sure what had caused such behavior in the timeline in the first place, but he had the feeling what caused it...or more like _who_ caused it.

 _speak of the devil_ he thought, looking up. He could hear someone knocking at the door. It was kind of jumping at conclusions, but he thought it could be Syphus. Had he come to talk to them about these recent developments? Most likely. Dragging his feet a bit, Sans walked away from the machine, appearing in his living room, and opened the door. He didn't even stop while walking.

"funny story, here i was thinking about you" Sans winked "you been working hard, pal?"

Syphus entered, nervous, he was wearing the illusions created by the brooch. Behind him, two people clad in armor strolled in, followed by Undyne. The captain simply greeted with her head, plopping onto the couch as if this was her own home. "Kind of, yeah. Is your brother here?"

"DID SOMEONE CALL FOR THE GREAT PAPYRUS?" as if that was enough to summon him, Papyrus shouted that from his room, descending down the stairs in two jumps. Once he was on the ground floor, he posed heroically "I HAD THE FEELING WE'D SEE EACH OTHER AGAIN, FRIEND! AND I SEE YOU HAVE BROUGHT GUESTS!" he greeted the two people in armor, and turned to Undyne. "UNDYNE! I AM SORRY FOR NOT ATTENDING OUR PRIVATE TRAINING SESSIONS MORE OFTEN. I HAVE BEEN WORKING HARD ON A PUZZLE PROJECT!"

"How nice" Undyne said tiredly, patting Papyrus on the shoulder. Sans said nothing, but in his mind he was slowly starting to get concerned. It was no secret that Undyne disliked most puzzles, but she usually showed courtesy and listened to Papyrys talk about the puzzle he was working on or solving recently. To not take the time to listen...she must have been in quite a hurry.

Was it because of Syphus? Had he gathered a group of four people for his team already, then? "the underground sure is busy these days. the human child is passing very slowly through hotland, undyne was in the hospital until this morning, and you did something big not too long ago"

"How do you know about that?" Syphus asked, although, judging by his face, he knew what Sans was talking about.

"secret" Sans' grin widened, and he turned towards the guests Syphus had brought "who do we have here?" he said with the friendliest tone he could have. It was unlikely they were members of the Royal Guard, even though the armor resembled theirs a lot. The two guests looked at each other and took off their helmet. It was two humans, one rather old and the other as young as Frisk. "oh boy, paps will be—"

"SANS, MORE HUMANS HAVE COME TO VISIT! MY FRIEND WAS RIGHT, HE SAID THEY'D EXPLORE THE UNDERGROUND SOMEDAY, AND HERE THEY ARE!" he said, his eye sockets almost sparkling with joy "THEY WILL NEED A TOUR GUIDE. HAVE NO FEAR, NEW FRIENDS! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, SHALL PROTECT YOU DURING YOUR JOURNEY"

"Th-Thank you..." the child said, looking at the floor. Was she afraid of Papyrus?

"That'd be nice" the old human said "But for now we should tell them why we're here. Syphus, can you get that going already?"

Introductions were made. The human named Cohen seemed largely indifferent to the skeletons, and Ananas was both curious and afraid of them. "something wrong?" he asked to Ananas, she looked at the floor.

"N-No, it's nothing" she looked away.

Explaining that Sans and Papyrus had been the ones who accompanied Syphus into the very first expedition was a bit of a hassle, so Sans was glad Syphus was the one to deal with that particular problem. Undyne was rather impressed, though. "You guys went in without Personas? That's awesome!"

"INDEED WE DID! IT WAS AN ACCIDENT, BUT WE SURVIVED TO TELL OUR TALE OF HEROICS, SO IT'S ALL OKAY"

"Sans is the guy who makes all the tiny trinkets for us" Syphus said and, as if that was Sans' cue, he moved a box full of small accessories made from the random stuff Syphus kept bringing. It was a way to pass the time while sitting in the sentry stations, something to do between naps. That was why he didn't mind doing those objects. Papyrus peeked into the box, shaking his head with disappointment.

"SANS! HOW MANY OF THOSE PAPERWEIGHTS ARE YOU GOING TO MAKE?"

"those aren't paperweights, paps, those are figurines of myself"

"IT'S JUST A LUMP OF BRASS! IT EVEN LOOKS LIKE THE SNOW SANS YOU MADE THE OTHER DAY!"

"it's a very useful item"

"ALL IT DOES IS SIT THERE AND DO NOTHING! WAIT, I THINK I GET IT" Papyrus' comment had no hint of malice, it was more like he had just realized something nobody else had noticed "THAT'S BECAUSE THAT'S ALL YOU DO, RIGHT?"

"what can I say, bro? if you're good at something, you brag about it"

"…YOU'RE CORRECT. THAT'S VERY CORRECT" Satisfied, Papyrus turned to the team "AND SINCE I'M VERY GOOD AT HELPING, I ONCE AGAIN OFFER MY HELP. YOU CAN ALWAYS COUNT ON ME! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL DO EVERYTHING I CAN TO HELP YOU IN YOUR JOURNEY"

Ananas seemed willing to accept Papyrus' help with no strings attached, but the rest were rather wary of letting him. Thankfully, Cohen was the one to talk. "If you get a Persona you can help us"

"THANK YOU! I SHALL WORK HARDER UNTIL I OBTAIN MY OWN PERSONA!"

"…he's going to somehow obtain one, isn't he?" Undyne whispered to Sans, who nodded. Knowing how determined to help Papyrus was, that was unavoidable.

"that's just matter of time"

"Anyway, there's something you two must know now!" Syphus tried to get the reason they had come. While Syphus talked, Sans kept looking at the places that had supposedly been destroyed. He saw no reason for them to be making up convoluted stories about alternate versions of Snowdin, purple fog, and beings that seemed intent on destroying them, but there was something about the tale that got his attention.

Maybe it was because of what he had seen in his machine, but he easily made the connection between the golden lines and the timelines themselves. It was clear: defeating whatever the creature had been had caused havoc throughout the timelines. Judging by the team's expressions, nobody was none the wiser about the consequences of their actions. How could they know they had just turned into nothing a bunch of timelines? All the events, all the people inside, all the alternate versions of themselves that now didn't exist.

It was the kind of thing that was better for others to deal with. He wasn't willing to go out of his way to help. Still…should he inform them of what had happened?

"DO NOT FRET, FRIENDS! AS YOU CAN SEE, OUR HOUSE IS UNHARMED. WHAT YOU DID IN THAT "OTHER HOUSE" DID NOT AFFECT US HERE"

"I still don't like what happened" Cohen said "It's just a gut feeling, but I feel like I just helped do something really bad"

"Do you have anything to say, Syphus?" Undyne asked to the leader of the team. Syphus shook his head, genuinely puzzled.

"No, I have no idea what happened. That's what we're here for, to ask them if they know anything" Syphus looked directly at Sans "Do you know what may have happened?"

Many thoughts crossed Sans' mind, but there was a specific one that kept bothering him: what'd the team do if they realized how destructive their actions had been? The end goal was good – everyone wanted the Barrier to break – and the thought of having a future that wouldn't be resetted was nice. If he told them they had just destroyed thousands of timelines, they'd stop immediately. He had just met two of them and he still didn't like Syphus, but he could see very well that they were the type of people that'd stop doing something if it proved to be harmful.

"nope. sorry"

All Sans wanted was for all the mess to end, one way or another. He was so tired of the RESET, so tired of having to see the timelines twist like pretzels, so tired of knowing other times everyone had reached a happy ending and it had all been for naught because of the RESET. He just wanted a timeline that wouldn't reach an abrupt end.

Whether it was because of a happy ending or because the abnormal developments that were occurring now had doomed everything, was of no concern to him.

Syphus sighed. "Guess we're not going to know what happened in that place"

"What are we going to do now?"

There was silence for a moment until Syphus shrugged, steeling himself. "We're going to continue"

"I'd feel better about all this if we knew what was happening" Undyne said "I'm confused"

"We all are confused! And I think it's very clear we may be dealing with powers and events _way_ out of our scope, but we have already gone rather deep in all this - we have five pieces already"

"I want to continue" Ananas said. It was unanimous: even if they didn't know what exactly they had done and what else could happen, they didn't want to stop.

 **You're all starting to realize the immensity of your actions**

 **The Barrier Breakers Social Link has reached Rank 4!**

 **Your power to create Personas of the Judgement Arcana has grown!**

What was going to happen in the future? Nobody knew.

"WE HAVE EACH OTHER. WORKING TOGETHER WE CAN DO WHATEVER WE WANT!"

"Papyrus has the right idea. You all better do your best, I'm not going to carry the team on my back!" Undyne laughed, giving Cohen a friendly punch on the arm. The old man rubbed the place where she had hit him, nodding.

"I'm counting on all of you…because otherwise I dunno what I'm supposed to do"

"We're going to help everyone!" Ananas cheered, her face serious.

Syphus looked at Sans. "Thanks for everything, Sans" all Sans did was give a thumbs up.

All they knew was that it was uncharted territory from now on.

 **ACT 1: OPENING**

 **END**

* * *

 **SOCIAL LINKS:**

 **Fool - Frisk - RANK 5**

 **Magician - Burgerpants - RANK 2**

 **Priestess - Alphys - RANK 4**

 **Empress - Toriel - RANK 2**

 **Emperor - Cohen - RANK 4**

 **Hierophant - Ciruel - RANK 2**

 **Lovers - ? - RANK 0**

 **Chariot - Ananas - RANK 5**

 **Justice - Undyne - RANK 4**

 **Hermit - ? - RANK 0**

 **Fortune - ? - RANK 0**

 **Strength - ? - RANK 0**

 **Hanged Man - ? - RANK 0**

 **Death - Cornio - RANK 2**

 **Temperance - ? - RANK 0**

 **Devil - ? - RANK 0**

 **Tower - ? - RANK 0**

 **Star - Lucia - RANK 2**

 **Moon - ? - RANK 0**

 **Sun - Papyrus - RANK 3**

 **Judgment - Team - RANK 4**

 **Aeon - Syphus - RANK 3**

 **Jester - Alphonse - RANK 2**


	30. Act II - START - Fork in the Road

Syphus smiled sheepishly, knowing a few of the pub's patrons were staring at him, mostly out of curiosity what the guy they had seen scrubbing the walls and floors was saying to Grillby with all that nervousness. Sans, sitting to his side, wasn't being of any help, resting his head on his hand and looking at Syphus with some sort of playfully cruel amusement. _Stop enjoying how I'm floundering, you jackass_ "...so yeah...thank you for everything. I'm really grateful for all your help"

Grillby said nothing.

"So as I said, uh, thank you. I won't forget your kindness"

"smooth"

"Shut up, Sans"

Grillby nodded, putting aside the glass he was cleaning. "...take care". It was hard to know how Grillby felt, but Syphus had the feeling he was largely indifferent.

"I will! Thank you!"

Sans took a sip of the bottle of ketchup, chuckling. "'phus, lemme ask you somethin': how long did you last in this job? almost two weeks?"

"Don't say it like that, it's not like I was _fired_!" it took him a couple seconds to realize what he just said, he turned his head around to glance at Grillby. "No pun intended" All Grillby did was sigh as if this was something he was very used to. "Sans, I'm just going to work for Undyne. You know what they say about looking for greener pastures"

"in other words: she pays you more"

"...okay, that may be true, but—"

The dots of light inside Sans' eye sockets focused on Grillby. "you hear that? he thinks you're cheap"

"That's _not_ what I said!"

"i know, i'm just teasing you" Sans got off the barstool, pushing aside the empty bottle of ketchup. "put it on my tab" he said to Grillby before walking alongside Syphus out of the pub.

It was hard to think of a day as sunny when you were underground, but somehow the day was almost...bright. The ceiling of the cavern couldn't be seen, all there was up there was pitch black, but it still felt like it was a rather nice day. Sans and Syphus walked through Snowdin, greeting the residents of the town along the way, until they exited Snowdin, going in direction of the Ruins. "frisk's staying with us for a while. they said they got to the resort but they don't want to go in yet"

"Are they feeling nervous?"

"they're not sure they want to meet mtt. can't blame them, mettaton can be a handful" they ascended the cliffs, entering the forests of Snowdin "what about you? having second thoughts after yesterday's ordeal?"

He'd be lying if he said he wasn't having seconds thoughts despite what he had said the day before, but it wasn't like backing down was an option. Either they shattered the barrier, or they stayed trapped in the Underground forever, and Syphus had very clear what he preferred. Sure, he wasn't sure if what the team had accidentally done had been harmless and inconsequential, but it almost seemed like it was! He asked several people if they had noticed anything off anywhere, but nobody had seen any changes or something that could indicate there was something going very wrong somewhere.

"I HAVE SEEN NO CHANGES HERE IN SNOWDIN, AND THE HOUSE IS STILL INTACT"

"The guards have seen nothing strange"

"Nothing has changed in our village"

"I asked the king, he hasn't seen anything weird either"

Now he was going to the Ruins, intending to ask the queen if anything had changed in there. After leaving Sans at his sentry station, Syphus entered the Ruins, walking down the purple corridor until he entered Toriel's house. Toriel seemed to be rather glad to see him, although once they started talking she went straight to chiding him for going out. "I'm aware you have a useful disguise, but you shouldn't leave the village" He had kept the firefly brooch on. Even though he was with Toriel and she knew how he usually looked, he didn't want to risk someone entering Toriel's house and seeing a human talking with the queen.

"I'm sorry, I just wanted to talk to you again"

"We could have talked later. Today I have to take more food to the village" she looked at the pile of boxes she had in the hall. "Now that there are seven humans in the Underground, I'll need to prepare more food for you all" _Looks like she still isn't aware of Frisk._

Syphus opened one of the boxes. It certainly was a good thing that monster food didn't spoil. It wouldn't taste as good the more time passed, but it wasn't like anyone would get food poisoning from it. Pies, fruit, containers that were full of grains, smaller packages with varied foods, it all was packed carefully in large amounts. "You really take care of us all so much..."

"It's the least I can do for my children" she smiled sadly "Although only two could be considered children. I suppose once you get to be of my age you think of a lot of people as rather young..."

"Your age?"

"I have lived a long life, Syphus, thousands of years. Some of them were rather happy, others not so much, to say the least!" she laughed a bit, but there was something empty in that laugh "But I think I'd like to focus more on what I have now and in the nice things there are to see. Life is a beautiful thing; don't you agree?"

"Yeah, definitely"

"Children are just starting their lives. You humans don't live as long as some monsters do, but it's a long life nonetheless. I know the place you're living in now is rather small, but I'm going to try to make your life more bearable than it'd otherwise be down here"

"It's the same than how monsters feel underneath this mountain; I guess..." he divided the piles in shorter stacks, to try to make her task easier.

Toriel looked at him with resigned expression. "Goodness, no! That's not an excuse for you to be feeling trapped. If it was up to me, I'd place you all in New Home or in any other place you want. I know you may not believe it, but monsters are rather welcoming" she closed another box, putting it with the rest "But the war is making the current situation rather...troublesome. All these years I have been trying all I can to convince monsters to stop the war. I may be the Queen, but that doesn't mean I can tell everyone what to think"

"That means you weren't successful with that?"

"Oh, I'm doing a good job so far, if I may say that! The problem is that there are too many monsters in the Underground, and Asgore continues his efforts to perpetuate this war. At least I have convinced many of the guards to support me"

"Even though they don't know about humans actually being down here?"

Toriel looked away, pretending to adjust her crown. "It's not that I don't trust them. It's just a precaution, just in case..." _She doesn't trust not even the guards that support her, I guess._ Syphus had no idea if that was good or not. Maybe it didn't matter, as long as they were on her side.

 **You understand Toriel's efforts to help in this difficult situation**

 **Your bond with Toriel will get stronger soon.**

When Syphus asked if they had noticed anything strange in the Ruins, she replied nobody had seen anything – and then contradicted herself almost immediately: "Now that I think about it, someone mentioned something unusual..."

"Unusual? Like what?"

"Someone spilled ink near the fence I placed deep in the ruins. It's odd the guards that patrol those areas didn't see who did that, but it's something to note"

 _Ink...could it be part of a Shadow?_ Was the large gaping hole Syphus had come from still active deep in the Ruins? Syphus tried to ignore the creeping feeling on his back, his feathers bristled. "Uh, um, that's...strange, yeah"

Unsurprisingly, Toriel noticed his unease. She put aside the box she was holding a put a hand on his shoulder. "There's no reason to be unsettled. That must have been just a monster being careless with ink, there's nothing to be afraid of"

Unconvinced, he nodded. Explaining to Toriel what the ink stains meant would be a problem, it was better to avoid that. "...yeah, you're right"

He really hoped she was right. If Shadows came into the real world, it was unlikely they'd come in peace.

-ooooo-

Syphus threw the rock, hitting the wall on the other side of the hall. Having heard the noise, the guard in front of the fence hurried to go to where the sound came from, giving Syphus enough time to sprint to the fence and jump over it, making sure to not stop until he was far away enough of the fence to not be heard.

What Toriel had said about ink having been found worried him a lot – mostly because of what had happened in Waterfall. The thought of Shadows swarming into the Underground was anguishing, he wanted to stomp any thoughts that indicated that was what was going on. Indeed, there were puddles of ink on the floor, still fresh and goopy. Syphus poked one of the puddles, making a face of disgust. "Tell me this is just ink, for real..." he hoped, going towards where he remembered the entrance to where he had come from was. Along the way, he found more sludge, until he entered the right room. There it was, the pool of ink on the wall, bubbling and looking like something would come out of it in any moment. For a moment Syphus regretted not having gone to get his halberd first, but maybe it was okay to take a look, as long as he stayed near the entrance. Syphus approached, turned off his brooch just in case, took a deep breath, and hesitantly started reaching with his hands, until the tip of his fingertips touched the sludge, feeling how the viscous substance glued to his skin. Grossed out, he withdrew his hands, staring at his fingertips. They were pristine.

"I better not regret this" he murmured, making a SAVE point, crouching and extending a hand through the rift. It felt like he was passing his hand through thick pudding, but once he was past that, he was able to touch floor on the other side. A bit encouraged there wasn't a large empty void on the other side, Syphus slowly passed through the rift.

The other side looked like it was part of the Ruins. Was it like the other Waterfall and Snowdin he had seen just the day before? It was hard to know, since any purple mist would blend with the walls and floor of the Ruins, once he entered it was clear something was very wrong, though.

Many parts of the room right on the other side were covered in the same black sludge that supposedly formed Shadows. It was actively dripping, moving around like slugs, but he saw no mask that could show any of it was a Shadow that could attack him. Syphus stepped further in, avoiding any big puddle of sludge, looking around himself for anything that could be dangerous to him.

Right outside the room there was a bifurcation. Syphus peered as far as he could in them, seeing how the paths continued in opposite directions. The Ruins weren't labyrinthine, but he didn't think the other side of the Underground would be exactly like the real Underground. The vines on the wall swayed as if there was a constant breeze passing through, the ink caking the place rippled. It all felt eerie, he really didn't like to be there. Slowly, he chose a direction and got deeper in. He didn't get very far before he accidentally stepped on one of the many puddles.

Immediately, a mask surfaced on the puddle, like a mushroom sprouting from the floor. The brown mask stared at him, a pair of arms emerged. "Oh, crap...!" he said loudly, dodging the Devious Maya's attempt to grab him. One by one more Shadows emerged, mostly Mayas. _I have to get out of here now!_

As if they sensed he was going to run away, one of the Mayas attacked, a large white orb appeared in the air, swiftly descending to the floor. Syphus was too busy running away to realize the extent of the Megidolaon attack he just avoided, but he felt how the air heated up, how it felt like a static charge filled the air, his hair felt like the wind was going to tear his hair off his head. He was out of his league right now.

He didn't look back not even once until he passed through the rift back into the real world. Syphus fell to the floor, slamming his hands against the surface and rolled to see the rift, crawling backwards and feeling how his heart pounded against his ribs. The rift kept moving like something large was coming out in any moment, but nothing happened. Had the Mayas not followed him? Were they unable to pass through? Maybe Syphus himself had been able to pass through when he first arrived because he was _meant_ to be in the real world, thanks to the manipulations of higher beings, but still...

...he really didn't like what was going on recently.

-ooooo-

Igor didn't react much when Syphus asked if it was possible for Shadows to swarm into the real world. Alphonse looked at him nervously, clutching the book and looking like they really wanted a negative answer, but Igor nodded.

"Yes, it's possible for that to happen"

"Master?" Alphonse suddenly stood up, approaching Igor and conferring with him quietly. They sounded like they had an urgent matter to talk about. Even though Syphus tried not to listen, he felt his curiosity flaring up, he almost wanted to lean forward to hear better, but before he could take a decision, Igor and Alphonse separated. The attendant huffed and sat down heavily on their chair, annoyed. "I have bad news, Syphus"

"Really now. What is it?" It couldn't be worse than the possibility hostile Shadows could invade the real world, right?

Alphonse closed their eyes, uncomfortable. "I'm sorry for not telling you before, but you have to complete your mission before a certain date"

"What...?"

"If you don't, Shadows will invade the Underground"

Syphus stared at Alphonse and Igor intermittently, as if expecting any of them to start laughing and say that was a joke. "...no, seriously, what?"

"What you saw yesterday was the mass unconscious. You should have never been able to enter it from Waterfall, but you did! Do you see what's the problem now? Just like you went into the mass unconscious, it's possible something from there can enter the real world"

It made _some_ sense, but Syphus didn't fully understand yet. He opened his mouth a few times, at a loss of words, and finally shrieked, exasperated. "Why wasn't I informed earlier?!"

"S-Sorry, it slipped from my mind" Alphonse lied and looked away.

"Indeed...it appears you weren't meant to find out until now" Igor said.

" _Why_?" Syphus insisted.

Igor extended a hand, soothing. "Because you may not have realized the gravity of the situation if you had been told before. Now that you saw firsthand what we mean by this possibility, you'll be able to endure your task properly"

Syphus wasn't sure if that logic made sense or not. It still felt like suddenly he had been thrown into the deep end of the pool and told to sink or swim, but at least they were right about something: he fully realized just how bad things could get. "I see...okay, uh...how much time do we have to shatter the Barrier?"

"Four months counting from the moment you arrived to the Underground" Alphonse answered.

"So...120 days. Right now this is the—"

 **Day 20**

Okay, it could be worse! There was still a lot of time yet, and if they had done so much progress in just twenty days, that should mean they'd be able to complete their goal before even two months passed! Well, actually, it all relied on how soon someone would get attacked. Supposing it all continued at the same rhythm it had so far, he'd have around two months to complete all the Social Links. Not too bad! Sure, there were nine he still had to start yet, if his knowledge about tarot was accurate, but hey, he had all the time in the world!

As if Igor guessed what was going through Syphus' head, he added: "Another reason why you didn't hear about this until now is because otherwise you would have gotten complacent"

"Just because there's three months left doesn't mean you can rest easy" Alphonse said, standing up and extending a hand "Come on, let me help you"

"What's the plan?" Syphus accepted the hand, getting pulled up to his feet and being led towards the couch near the entrance of the Velvet Room. Alphonse tilted his head, looking at the couch with inscrutable expression.

"Lucia and I spent the last few days looking for _someone_ you should talk with. Lucia says you owe this man an apology"

"This man?" Syphus slowly questioned, passing a hand in the air above the couch. "There's nobody here"

"There's someone, but his existence is very faint. Tell me, does the name 'W.D. Gaster' mean anything to you?"

The mere mention of that name made Syphus freeze, blinking in surprise. That was a name he didn't expect to hear again. Old buried guilt resurfaced. How not to know that name? He had accidentally killed that scientist after he tried to help him. "Y-Yeah, I know that name…"

Alphonse didn't seem too worried, putting a hand on Syphus' back, calming. "Don't think too hard about what happened. Take it from me, when you did something wrong, the best thing you can do is apologize and try to fix the situation" he took his hand off Syphus' back "Besides you remember the contract you signed, right?"

 _I chooseth this fate of mine own free will._

He made his choices. He needed to take responsibility of his actions. That was impossible to forget. Syphus fidgeted, twiddling with his fingers with doubt. "So what am I supposed to do now?"

"Go ahead, apologize"

To the empty air? That seemed silly, but no more impossible than the existence of the Velvet Room, Shadows and Personas. Feeling a knot in his throat, Syphus licked his lips and hesitantly spoke: "Uh, Dr. Gaster? It's—it's me, Syphus. Long time no see…"There was no reply. Syphus glanced at Alphonse, who gestured him to continue. "Look, I'm sorry for…for what happened forty-six years ago"

Nothing happened, the couch continued as empty as before. Maybe he had to go into detail about what he did? Admitting to an accident that led to such an unfortunate action ashamed him. He considered telling Alphonse to leave him alone with Gaster. Before he could do that, Alphonse smiled sadly. "It's okay. Lucia already told me all about it"

"She did?"

"…I know it was an accident. You didn't mean to hurt Dr. Gaster…you're not the kind of person that'd harm someone intentionally" they hid their eyes with their cap "I know it doesn't mean much to you, but I know how it feels. I accidentally caused a person's death, too, and left friends suffering because of my actions"

"Alphonse…"

Alphonse clutched the book of Personas tighter, as if they feared letting it go would mean everything around them would disappear. "I know how it feels…the guilt, thinking constantly how stupid you were…I know how it feels to want to pretend it never happened…but you can't. You can't continue pretending that forever" the more they talked, the quieter they were, their voice was trembling a bit "It hurts, Syphus, being so cowardly hurts. It's hard to look at those you hurt and say you're sorry. I wouldn't blame you if after this you never talk to Dr. Gaster again, even if he stays here forever. Running away would be much easier…I know that. I want to run away too"

"Alphonse, are you okay?"

Their voice got much louder. "You were given a chance to apologize. Please, _please_ don't waste it"

There was a very tense and awkward pause, where Alphonse stared at Syphus expectantly and Syphus wasn't sure what to say. Clearly this was a matter of importance to Alphonse, even though Syphus didn't understand why.

 **You saw a bit more of what's tormenting Alphonse**

 **Your bond with Alphonse isn't ready to get stronger yet.**

 _Time to bite the bullet, I guess_ … "I'm sorry, Dr. Gaster" he shook his head, getting his thoughts in order. "I was scared, I was afraid to die, and I lashed out. I didn't realize I'd accidentally kill you. It's my fault you were dispersed throughout time and space" What else to say?

The empty space didn't say anything, but it felt like something changed. Where before there was empty air now there was a faint outline of…someone. It was impossible to recognize it as W.D. Gaster, but maybe he really was there. "What did just happen?" Syphus asked to Alphonse, unsure if he should touch the outline.

"Dr. Gaster has been largely forgotten. Your soul was coated in his dust, you should be able to access his memories and rebuild Dr. Gaster bit by bit" the attendant had returned to their normal behavior, talking measuredly. "The more time you spend talking and giving him back his memories, the more Dr. Gaster will exist"

"You mean he'll be resurrected?" he couldn't stop himself from sounding hopeful. Alphonse dashed those hopes immediately, though.

"That's impossible. Dr. Gaster is dead and nothing can change that, but maybe, just maybe, he won't have to be _nonexistent_ anymore" they smiled "Do you understand?"

"I don't understand anything of what you said"

"…that's fine, what matters is that you can do it" Alphonse looked at the outline, still talking to Syphus "If you _want_ to do it. Nobody's going to force you, and like I said, I wouldn't blame you if you don't talk to Gaster again. It's just something else you can do"

 **You were given a chance to rebuild W.D. Gaster**

 **You feel a faint bond forming between you and Dr. Gaster**

 **Thou art I... And I am thou...**

 **Thou hast established a new bond...**

 **Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Hermit Arcana**

"So this is what you meant about you helping me" They didn't want Syphus to live with guilt. In Alphonse's opinion, that was a huge favor. Besides, a new Social Link was always useful, although...he doubted he'd try to cultivate it much. To be perfectly frank, he was afraid. He didn't want to face what he had done. Alphonse and Lucia's efforts were a nice gesture, but it was likely it was wasted effort.

He simply didn't feel ready.

Alphonse started leading Syphus out of the Velvet Room, guiding him to the door. "You're doing well so far. Keep going"

"I admit I kind of didn't expect everything to be going so smoothly! Sure, I have died two times, but other than that it's going rather well!"

"It's not that surprising. With all the humans alive and without Flowey getting in your way, it'll all be okay"

Something about the way Alphonse said that got Syphus' attention. He stopped, having placed his hand on the doorknob, and turned around. "Now that you mention it, I haven't seen Flowey at all this whole time"

"Is that strange?"

"Well, yeah! I'd have thought he'd be interested in watching something he hadn't seen in any other timeline, but I haven't even heard about him" he scratched behind his ear "Frisk was wondering where Flowey was, too. I feel like there's something off about all this"

"No, what I mean is why would that be strange? Flowey doesn't exist"

For a moment Syphus stared at Alphonse. "...sorry, I think I heard wrong. Did you say-?"

"Flowey doesn't exist. Didn't Lucia and Cornio tell you?"

It made sense now. It was absolutely impossible Flowey wouldn't show any interest in something so new and different. The only way that'd be possible was if…Alphonse was telling the truth… "No way…" What was the sense of trying to save everyone, if not even _everyone_ existed? Why was Flowey gone?

 _…the humans_. Of course. Flowey existed because the flower Asriel's dust was on had been injected with Determination. Without a human soul to extract Determination from, there was nothing to inject. Alphys never made her experiments. Now that he thought about it, what he had just heard in the MTT Resort restaurant made sense now. Without Alphys' experiments, those monsters whose bodies had been experimented on had all died.

He really should have deduced it long ago.

"…why wasn't I told this?" Syphus murmured, feeling a bit numb. Having realized that maybe they shouldn't have said anything about the topic, Alphonse opened the door out of the Velvet Room, nervously looking away.

"Uh, you should ask that to them, not me" they said rather quickly, and pushed Syphus out of the door "Thank you for visiting the Velvet Room, come back soon" they said, closing the door and leaving Syphus alone with his thoughts.

The piece took a deep breath, feeling cold all of a sudden. _Okay, this isn't the end of the world. It was a nasty surprise Flowey doesn't exist, but that doesn't have to be a bad thing._

 _I can accept it.—I must accept it._ Thinking that made him recover a bit from the shock. _There's a lot to be done. It's a pity he's gone, but…it's not like I could do anything about that. I_ shouldn't _do anything about that. Right?_

He wasn't sure. What if part of the game was to find a way to make Flowey exist despite the timeline's events? No, that couldn't be possible, it was impossible for Flowey to exist – unless…unless he sacrificed one of the humans to use their soul, that is.

"I'm _not_ going to sacrifice anyone!" Syphus shouted without hesitation. It was unthinkable he'd ever do such thing! He was here to help everyone, monsters, humans, himself…to take one of the humans' souls for the sake of someone else was simply unthinkable! Furious at himself for thinking about that for even a moment, Syphus hurried back into the Ruins, running as if he was fleeing from the mere idea.

The thought never left his mind.

-ooooo-

The piece took the news rather well, all things considered. He immediately dismissed the idea of killing a human to acquire their soul and revive Flowey that way, but Sisyphus...he didn't reject the idea. Lucia could see it in his eyes. The way he stared at the board, the glint of a scheming mind...

...not even she could foresee everything that could happen in her own plans. She never thought the tiny fraction of Sisyphus' soul they had placed inside the piece would slowly absorb the rest. She never once considered the possibility this would bring to surface Sisyphus' worst traits, embodying the closest thing there'd ever be to Sisyphus' Shadow.

She could only imagine how far his Shadow would be willing to go for the sake of his goals. Just how much hope and earnest desire to see a good ending for everyone had Sisyphus in him? And how much raw frustration at his lack of success and unfettered determination would turn his otherwise well-intentioned desires into a twisted and sociopathic will to achieve what he wanted?

Apparently his now-twisted desires were winning the battle in Sisyphus' mind.

"I'm starting to feel like you guys are hiding way too much stuff from me" Sisyphus said rather measuredly, closing his eyes and rubbing them with his fingers "The time limit, whatever happened with some of the pieces not long ago, and now Flowey not existing..."

" _I_ didn't know what'd happen with the pieces" Cornio clarified, Sisyphus ignored that.

" _I_ didn't know either" Lucia lied, playing with her hair.

Sisyphus looked at them from over his glasses. "You deny that part but not the rest. I knew it, you were hiding these details from me"

Cornio's eyes flickered nervously at Lucia, but he nodded. "We thought it was necessary. I'm sorry, I'd have told you, but—"

"But we made the right choice. Look at yourself, you're not reacting well to the part about Flowey not existing in the first place" she said "That reminds me, do you know that adage? You can't have your cake and eat it too?"

"That's not the point—"

"Choose, Sisyphus: the humans or Asriel. You're not going to get both"

It was cruel to try to make him choose between who among his friends would live. Both Asriel and all the humans were extremely important to him, he owed them a lot. He had started this all to help all of them, it was unfair he was being forced to choose! Cornio, feeling the situation could worsen, tried to smooth over Lucia and Sisyphus' tension: "I think keeping your friends safe would be better than trying to revive a soulless flower"

"It's not like you could do it, anyway. Besides the human soul you'd also need the flower with Asriel's dust. It has been decades since that kid died, the flowers that grew from him must be gone by now"

"Also what she said, it's impossible!" Cornio nodded as if the matter was settled satisfactorily.

"I don't think it's impossible" Sisyphus said, stubborn.

Lucia's face was carefully inexpressive. "Speaking of flowers, all those golden flowers in the underground were rather pretty...I want to plant some in my garden" both sorcerers didn't understand what she was talking about, but she continued "It's too bad I couldn't get many. I could only get a single golden flower. One is better than none, right?"

"One golden—where did you get it?" Cornio asked, not understanding what she was talking about.

"Secret" Lucia smiled, hiding her mouth with a hand. "Don't worry too much about it, I'll have a garden in no time"

The meaning of what Lucia said didn't go unnoticed to Sisyphus, though. He stared at her, mouth slightly open in surprise, and then stood up, leaving the lounge in a hurry. He didn't even bother to say anything to Cornio or Lucia. "Well that went just fine" Lucia raised her eyebrows jocularly at Cornio, smiling "What say you?"

"...wait..." the double doors locked audibly. Now that ASRIEL felt safe, he disabled the illusion his firefly brooch gave him. "That flower isn't—it's not from the throne room, right?"

"What gave you that idea?"

"Lucia, I'm serious!" ASRIEL tried to sound as firm as possible. He was starting to realize what kind of situation this could lead to, given Sisyphus' current state. "Where's that flower from?"

Finally noting ASRIEL wasn't in mood of beating around the bush, Lucia scratched under her chin, talking indifferently. "Yes, you're correct: it comes from your father's throne room"

"So that flower has my dust! He's going to—" ASRIEL stopped, a sliver of hope entering his heart. Maybe...maybe this all wasn't as bad as it seemed at first! The young former prince eagerly looked at Lucia, his eyes shining. "Wait, it has been a long time since I died! My dust can't be on those flowers anymore, even if you brought one here!"

"Yes, you're correct"

"It's impossible anything will happen, I knew it!" he giddily shook his fists, like an excitable child. Lucia laid her face on her hand, letting ASRIEL's hope grow before she crushed it.

"That's right. The only way he could do anything is if that flower was fresh"

"And we witches can't even enter the world, it's not like you could have gone there whenever you wanted!"

"That's true. I'd require someone who can enter the world, resides in a place completely separated from the time flow of the world, and doesn't know the significance of the flowers in the throne room. But what are the odds such person exists?"

Even though she talked with a rather easygoing and friendly tone, ASRIEL felt a chill down his spine. His hope disappeared, he immediately realized what she was talking about. "...you didn't ask them to do it, right?"

"I think you're worrying too much, ASRIEL" she said. "You're playing against your friend here. You know what kind of person Sisyphus is, you know the iteration of yourself your soul came from trusted him with his life.

Do you think someone another you appreciated so much...someone Asriel believed in and wanted to see safe...would do something despicable?"

That wasn't the most convincing argument, in ASRIEL's opinion, but inside him it felt like something warmed up. Yes...he could trust Sisyphus. He could trust his friend, reliable and determined. He wanted to trust him. No, wait, that was wrong, he couldn't trust him. Sisyphus was no more than a stranger, someone who seemed nice but that didn't guarantee anything.

He really disliked when his soul's feelings were almost opposite to what he was thinking.

"...I guess you're right" he said mutedly.

As long as Sisyphus hadn't lost enough of his soul for his bad traits to influence his decisions, that is.

-ooooo-

It wasn't often that a guest left something inside the Velvet Room. Igor and his attendants were some of the most trustworthy people the guests could ever meet, but that didn't mean the Velvet Room could be used as a storage or anything like that. That was common sense! When Sisyphus entered carrying a flowerpot with a golden flower planted inside, Igor made no comment, but he wasn't pleased about it.

Sisyphus put the flowerpot on the table. "Could you hold onto this for a moment?"

"This flower? Why?" Alphonse leaned forward to take a better look at the flower.

"I want to give it to my piece. You can do that, right? He'll know what to do with it" It was convenient to have a place that wasn't bound by a world's time and space. His piece still had the tickets Alphonse had made that granted him passageway through the Velvet Room to travel the Underground quickly, didn't he? If they could do something like that, why wouldn't they do him a favor and serve as couriers, in some way?

Alphonse took the flowerpot, unsure of what to say, so they simply nodded. Satisfied, Sisyphus bowed his head to Igor as a farewell, and left the Velvet Room. Not even a minute had passed inside the Velvet Room when Syphus entered. A cold gust of wind accompanied him, Alphonse shivered.

"...hello?" Syphus sounded a bit confused. "...I'm not sure why I had to return here. I was almost at the Hidden Village when I felt the need to come here again"

Alphonse took the flowerpot and passed it to him. "Your master wanted you to have this, and he says you know what to do with it. What's he talking about?"

Syphus' fingers curled around the ceramic of the flowerpot. His expression was clouded, he was staring hard into the center of the flower, like he expected it to come to life and talk to him in any moment. "...I understand" he said with a surprisingly harsh tone.

"It sounds like he wants you to do something"

"Yeah. I know very well what my master wants me to do" he said.

"Why don't you simply not do it?"

"...it's not that simple. I'm his piece. I'm like his limbs in this world"

A gripping sensation of dread grabbed Alphonse. Something about the way Syphus said that turned on alarms in their head, they were suddenly invaded by the feeling something horrible would happen if they didn't intervene. "You're not just a piece, Syphus. You have your own will, and you can take your own decisions.

Don't do something you don't want to do if you don't think it's the right thing to do" They tried very hard to emphasize those last few words. For a moment Syphus looked at him with hope. Could he truly defy his master? Yes, maybe he could! He had to do it! No way he'd simply do what Sisyphus wanted!

At least that's what Alphonse wanted to believe. They had no idea what Sisyphus wanted, but if the piece was taking this so glumly then they guessed it may not be a pleasant task. Cheered up, Syphus left the Velvet Room, walking with determination. Alphonse watched him leave, smiling.

"Do you believe he'll be okay?" they asked to Igor. Igor closed his eyes, meditating.

"I cannot say with certainty. Our guest is rather preoccupied, trapped between what they _want_ , and what's _right_. Only time will tell which path they'll choose"

"I don't think Sisyphus would do anything bad" Alphonse said, although they didn't fully believe their own words. "I know him, he's not a bad person"

"Are you certain you're not placing him on a pedestal, so to speak? You may be clinging too hard to the image of a person you once knew, Alphonse"

"No! I believe in him! He's a good person" Repeating it again made it a little bit easier to dispel their doubts. "And even if he had something bad in mind, his piece isn't a bad person either. It'll all be okay"

"Perhaps...you're being a bit too trusting" for a moment Igor's ever-present grin wavered. "What about the flower our former guest asked you to get? Are you aware what it was for?"

"For her garden, I think. She said the golden flowers in the king's throne room grew much better than those from the human village near Mt. Ebott"

"Did she also need to specify the exact timeframe she wanted the flower from?"

When Igor put it like that, it was impossible to not think Lucia had some ulterior motive to be so specific about the time and place she wanted the golden flower from. It also was odd she had given it to Sisyphus. "We may be overthinking it" they said. "It's just a flower...

...what harm can come from a flower?"

-ooooo-

While knowing his master wanted him to do something to bring Flowey back into existence – and therefore make Asriel be alive again – made him apprehensive, what Alphonse had said had also been rather encouraging. Sure, Syphus would have liked Asriel to have been alive, but making it happen would be too cruel towards everyone.

After all, once Flowey was revived, that'd be _Flowey_ , not Asriel. To make Asriel exist even for a moment, you'd need much more than just one human soul. That simply wouldn't be worth it.

 _Better say how things will go, I guess._ There were other matters to focus on right now other than what to do with the golden flower. A hundred days were left to gather seven pieces more for the spear that'd break the Barrier, and that'd depend on when seven people more would be attacked. Meanwhile he should be focusing on making the team stronger, build onto the Social Links, make sure the armor, weapons and complements were the best they could all have. Being the de facto leader of the team was a lot of work!

And as if that wasn't enough, he also had a job in the Royal Guard. His days would be packed full of work, but the thought of having so much to do and plan didn't deter him. Syphus put the flowerpot in a corner of the cottage he shared with Cohen, humming a bit. Through the window of the cottage he could see the one Graham was building for him. It was already half-done, rather impressive for something only one person was working on.

"There you are! Finally!"

His thoughts were interrupted by a female voice from the entrance of the cabin. Syphus turned around, finding Byssa standing there with her hands on her hips. "Byssa?"

"I have been looking for you for hours. You were out of the village, weren't you?"

"Y-Yeah, I had, uh, permission"

Byssa stared at him with intrigue. "I know you leave every day, that's not a secret, but you know you can trust all us here, right? We're all in the same situation, trapped in the same place. If there's anything you're looking for outside, you can ask us for help"

Syphus raised his eyebrows. "Do you leave the village too sometimes?"

"No. I don't dare to do that" she shook her head, trying to change the topic. "Whatever. Look, Grandma wants to meet you"

"Grandma?"

"Yeah, my grandmother" she then clarified: "Okay, she's not my grandmother, she's more like my...relative. It's a long story"

Apparently even though everything changed so much in the current timeline, some things really were the same than in the timeline he knew them before. Byssa and Celia were still relatives, although now it seemed the roles were inverted: instead of cousins and Byssa being the older one, now Celia was the older one – and a grandmotherly figure, too! Curious, Syphus followed Byssa to the oldest human's cottage, staring at her back.

Byssa was in her forties already, wasn't she? Her brash attitude made her seem somewhat younger, but she was a fully grown adult. Cohen was much older than her, being eighty years old...and if Celia was even older, then that meant... "How's her health?" Syphus asked, concerned.

"...she has had better days" was Byssa's grave reply, refusing to say anything else – that seemed to be a touchy topic to Byssa. She accompanied him in silence to the cottage, entering first and making Syphus wait outside. "Grandma, I finally found him" He couldn't hear the reply. "Do you need anything else? I could call the queen if you want—" More silence. "No, there's no news from him yet"

When Byssa exited the cabin, bringing a tray with her, she seemed worried. Without looking up from the empty plates she talked to Syphus: "You can go in"

"What should I say to her?" Syphus asked. Byssa shrugged, the plates rattling because of the movement.

"She's just an old lady, Syphus, not the Queen of All Monsters. You'll be okay" sighing, she walked away, leaving Syphus to enter whenever he wanted. Why was he hesitating so much? He just was going to talk to an old woman...who had also been an esteemed friend once. There was no reason to be nervous! Unless she was different than how she had been before, of course. But what were the odds she'd be behaving differently now?

 _Very high, I'd say._

Staying outside would be cowardly and therefore wouldn't be an option, so he prepared for whatever was going to come, crossing the entrance and trying to see into the dim lighting of the cottage. What she saw was quite the nasty shock.

In his original timeline, Celia had been a young girl, around ten or eleven years old, full of energy, vivacious. Even in her unfortunate circumstances she managed to be bright and friendly, even towards a monster.

The old woman he was seeing lying on the bed was gaunt, consumed. Her head was lying against her shoulder, her hair, instead of short and neat like he remembered, was now long and filled with a lot of gray strands. When she noticed he was there, she looked at him and smiled. Even though she was so old and tired, her eyes still had the same kindness he remembered. "Oh...hello. It's good to finally meet our new friend"

Syphus approached the bed, sitting on a nearby chair. "My name is Syphus"

"I am Celia. I was the first human to fall down here...at least in recent times" she stared at him for a moment, looking at him up and down. "My...you're much older than we all were when we fell down the mountain. I didn't think I'd see an adult fall..."

"It's a long story" he hoped she wouldn't ask him why he'd go to a renowned dangerous mountain.

"I'm not going to pry into your personal matters, but my door is always open, if you want to talk about anything" she managed to sit up on the edge of the bed, slouched over and with her legs dangling uselessly from the edge. "...on second thought, I think I'll stay here for today. I wouldn't want to burden you with having to push my wheelchair around"

 _Ah, that's right!_ Cohen had mentioned Celia had an accident when she was sixteen years old, she fell from a high place and got rather injured. "You mean you can't walk?"

"I'm paralyzed from the waist down" she smiled sadly. "I wouldn't want to be a burden on anyone, but it's unavoidable. Ever since then I have been a burden"

Syphus helped Celia lie down again. "I'm sure nobody thinks you're a burden, Celia"

"Even if they don't think it, it can't be denied my accident caused a lot of trouble" noticing what she was seeing made Syphus uncomfortable, she laughed under her breath, messing with her hair. "Don't listen to everything I say, this is just me thinking aloud. Don't worry about some old woman's rambling"

"Are you sure? I wouldn't mind listening to you if you have something to say"

"I'll be okay, but now that you offer, I guess I can accept that—" Celia moved on the bed as if she had a backache. "But not right now. I'd like to sleep...how about you come back from time to time?"

"From...time to time?"

"Yes. You don't have to be here every day; I'll be happy as long as you visit me once or twice per week. What do you say?"

It wasn't a bad idea! He did want to talk with Celia, try to reconnect with her in some way, and this was a good way to do it. Celia was behaving partly like he remembered, although...in the Celia he was talking about now he could see some melancholy he didn't remember she ever had. True, the circumstances were very different, but he couldn't chalk that up to the current situation.

 _...maybe I have gotten too attached to how these people were like in a completely different timeline._

 **Celia has welcomed you to her life**

 **You feel a faint bond forming between you and Celia**

 **Thou art I... And I am thou...**

 **Thou hast established a new bond...**

 **Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Strength Arcana**

Celia looked like she wanted to smile but felt self-conscious, so she settled with a contented expression. "Thank you very much. Frankly, I'll be looking forward to that"

"Why, you don't get visits often?" It was possible he asked that a bit too flippantly, but Celia didn't care. She made a so-so gesture with her hand.

"Byssa is who comes here the most, and Graham is here often to bring me my food and make sure I have everything I need, but generally I'm left alone...most of the time. I can't say I'm surprised. I told you, didn't I? I'm a burden"

"You are _not_ a burden, Celia"

Ignoring what he just said, she continued. "I don't mind, though. Do you want to hear a truth?" she leaned forward until her mouth was close to his ear. What she said made Syphus feel cold – or maybe it was the atmosphere, turning icily cold in mere seconds:

"To get what you want; you have to make _sacrifices_ "

He didn't know when exactly he jumped back, falling to the floor in a heap and looking at her with horror, but that was how he found himself the next moment. "W-What...?"

Celia continued, a strangely empty look in her face. "I'm willing to be the sacrifice" she shook her head. "If everyone needs to cut something out of their lives to succeed, then it's okay if I'm what they leave aside" As if to emphasize her words, he looked straight at his face. Her voice sounded just like normal, but Syphus had the feeling there was something else behind her words:

"Do you understand what I'm talking about?"

Syphus slowly stood up, trying to ignore the shivers down his spine. "N-No, I don't really—"

"Of course you wouldn't" her smile returned to her face. "Please don't pay attention to the ramblings of some old woman. I say a lot of stupid things"

"That was not just some rambling! Celia, what's wrong—"

"I feel like sleeping for a while. Thank you for your visit, Syphus" without even letting him say a word, she turned around on her bed and got snuggly, not responding to anything he said. After several minutes of unsuccessfully trying to get her to talk, he left the cottage, extremely worried. Not knowing what had happened inside, Byssa approached him.

"So! How did it go?"

"...not very well. She was..." _how to describe it...?_ Byssa got the wrong idea, looking at him apologetically.

"Did she ramble at you? She tends to do that, please don't hold it against her. But I think you can do her some good" she said. "You're the only adult who has fallen in this hell. Even if you're a stranger, you're not someone she saw growing up, she'll treat you differently.

I'll trust her to you, okay?"

Syphus was silent for a moment. Celia clearly was burdened by some quite heavy stuff, and he wasn't sure how to approach the topic nor how to deal with it, but he had to try, for Celia's sake.

"I'll do my best", he said.

-ooooo-

So many red flags! The more Cornio watched how everything went, the more convinced he was this wasn't going to end well. Sisyphus had just manipulated one of the many pieces to try to force his piece do what he wanted to do – it was impossible for a piece to act 'out of character', so it wasn't impossible for Celia to actually mean everything she said, but what Sisyphus had done was to influence Celia to give in to her internal despair. From what Cornio could see, that had disturbed Syphus a lot, the hidden implications of what Celia said hadn't gone unnoticed.

 _I have to do something_ Cornio decided. "I don't think you should have done that" he said.

"What do you mean?" At least Sisyphus didn't sound annoyed, that was a bit encouraging.

"Did you really have to do that to Celia?"

Sisyphus looked at him, as if he had no idea what he was talking about. "I didn't do anything. That's how Celia feels" Despite his words, Sisyphus sounded rather strained, and his eyes were filled with doubt. Even though the person in front of him was degrading into a rather unfettered individual at an alarming rate, he wasn't completely gone yet.

"I know that's how she feels, but—"

"Cornio, I know what you're thinking. Trust me, I..." Sisyphus scratched behind his ear. "I don't like this either. But it's not like I have a choice. If I don't encourage my piece to take someone's soul, someone I consider a good friend will stay dead. Forever, since this will be the last timeline"

"Sometimes you need to let go of something you want" Cornio said, although he did understand to a point how Sisyphus felt. He didn't approve at all, but he understood.

"I can't just let go like that. I have been messing with the timelines for much longer than you'd think. Sixteen years in the void, and then another thirty after Lucia found me. I'm over seventy years old, Cornio" he shrugged. "I may be much younger than Lucia, but I think I have gone through just as much trouble in my life as she has" That elicited a derisive snort from Lucia, even though she said nothing, just smiling serenely as if she was enjoying a private joke.

There was an awkward pause while Sisyphus examined the positions of the piece, mulling what moves would be good, until Cornio broke the silence, leaning on the back of his chair. "I...did you know? I once knew, uh, another sorcerer who did something like what you did"

"Really?" Sisyphus' tone had a hint of curiosity, but it was mostly defensive. _Do all witches have to be so stubborn?_ Cornio wondered momentarily before trying to take back the control of the situation.

"He lived for countless years, RESE—checking other timelines..." luckily for him, Sisyphus didn't look like he caught onto how he almost slipped. "...and manipulating the people inside. He wanted something interesting to happen because he was tired of seeing the same events over and over, so he befriended people. He learned how they thought and why they did everything they did, and manipulated them into doing something different every time he wanted that"

"Go on..." Sisyphus leaned his chin onto his hand. At least he was listening.

"I think...I can't say for sure what he was thinking, but I'm pretty sure he did all that partly because he didn't want to let go of his world and everyone in it" Cornio said measuredly. "Or...it's more like he couldn't. He did try to! But at the last moment he returned, and—it's a long story" It wasn't really a lie. True, he was too determined to let himself die, but...even though he literally couldn't feel any positive feelings towards anything, he had stayed around, watching everyone...

Some people would say he longed to be with them. Flowey would simply say it was fun to play with them. Not even now ASRIEL knew what exactly he had been thinking back then.

Sisyphus closed his eyes, seemingly waiting for him to continue. "He changed his mind. He didn't let go, but he regretted everything he did. He hurt a lot of people, and he wanted to make amends! Even though he...never got the chance" Talking about it made Cornio rather uncomfortable, but he was willing to endure that if it got the point through Sisyphus' thick skull.

It was a valiant effort to get the message through, to maybe influence Sisyphus' growing bad traits from leading him to do something he'd regret, but Sisyphus gave no sign of understanding. He blinked, staring at Cornio with such passivity the disguised monster simply couldn't tell if Sisyphus was taking him seriously or not.

"Right. And this someone you know...is it you?" he finally talked. Cornio passed a hand through his false mane of hair, smiling sheepishly.

"No, of course not!" _Was it that obvious?!_ Cornio thought.

"If you say so..." Sisyphus' expression softened. "I could tell you had a bit of a hard time telling me that. Thanks"

"It was nothing, you don't have to—"

"No, seriously, thank you" Sisyphus said. "Do you think I'm less approachable than before?"

 _Better be honest on that regard._ "Just a bit" Cornio said diplomatically.

"I'm really sorry. I guess I just need some time to get over this" he said, a bit darkly. "I'll get over it...most likely"

 **Cornio tried to share a personal experience with you**

 **The Unusual Witch Social Link has reached Rank 3!**

 **Your power to create Personas of the Death Arcana has grown!**

Cornio tried to find the right words for what he wanted to say, finally settling on what sounded rather cliché once said: "You know you can rely on us, right?" Lucia shook her head almost unnoticeably, as if disapproving such words, but Sisyphus seemed to be glad to hear that.

"You really are a strange witch, Cornio. I'm not sure why, but there's something familiar about you I just can't pinpoint"

"That must be your imagination!" he hurried to say. "We never met until this game started, right?"

Sisyphus nodded, almost carefree. "Yeah. Thanks, though"

Maybe the situation won't be as bad as it could be.

Just maybe.

...hopefully.

* * *

 **SOCIAL LINKS:**

 **Fool - Frisk - RANK 5**

 **Magician - Burgerpants - RANK 2**

 **Priestess - Alphys - RANK 4**

 **Empress - Toriel - RANK 2**

 **Emperor - Cohen - RANK 4**

 **Hierophant - Ciruel - RANK 2**

 **Lovers - ? - RANK 0**

 **Chariot - Ananas - RANK 5**

 **Justice - Undyne - RANK 4**

 **Hermit - Gaster - RANK 1**

 **Fortune - ? - RANK 0**

 **Strength - Celia - RANK 1**

 **Hanged Man - ? - RANK 0**

 **Death - Cornio - RANK 3**

 **Temperance - ? - RANK 0**

 **Devil - ? - RANK 0**

 **Tower - ? - RANK 0**

 **Star - Lucia - RANK 2**

 **Moon - ? - RANK 0**

 **Sun - Papyrus - RANK 3**

 **Judgment - Team - RANK 4**

 **Aeon - Syphus - RANK 3**

 **Jester - Alphonse - RANK 2**


	31. Pressure

**Day 21**

Maybe it was his master's influence, but he just couldn't stop thinking over and over about Flowey and what would be needed to make him exist. It got so bad that, the next morning, he considered telling Cohen about such thoughts. If there was someone who could dissuade him, for everyone's good, it was him.

But he didn't dare to.

He knew if he told Cohen, the old man would take it very seriously – but what could Cohen do? Lock him somewhere? Always stay with him? Arrange for him to live somewhere else, away from the rest of the humans, maybe with Toriel? No matter what Cohen did, Syphus saw no way for any arrangement to not interfere with the important task of shattering the Barrier. Not only he needed to have a certain amount of liberty, he also needed everyone in the village to trust him. How else would he manage to create and advance his Social Links? He needed that strength to fight everything inside the souls he needed to go into.

It was a bit callous to be thinking of his bonds as ways to strengthen his Personas, but sometimes you had to be pragmatic when you wanted to succeed.

"Any plans for today?" Cohen asked, giving Syphus a plate of food. They were sitting inside the hole in the wall, it was early in the morning. Syphus poked at the content with a fork, measuring his words carefully.

"Not really. I have to work for Undyne, other than that I don't have much to do"" It was decided: he wasn't saying a word about that other matter.

"In that case, would you do me a favor?" Cohen looked around and dropped a sizable amount of gold into Syphus' hands, "I feel like eating another one of those square steaks today. Mind bringing me one?"

"Where did you even get all this gold?"

"Toriel," he said, "She taught us the value of money long ago, using real gold. When I tried to return it to her, she said I could keep it" Cohen admitted, looking a bit nostalgic. "We all have quite some amount"

That was how Syphus found himself going to the MTT Resort early in the morning. The glass doors were closed, inside Burgerpants was cleaning the tables meticulously but without enthusiasm. Syphus didn't knock in the door, he waited for Burgerpants to open. He was noticed soon. A bit curious about why he had arrived so soon, the employee went to the doors and opened them just enough to hear what Syphus wanted.

He wasn't happy at all to hear it was for a steak. "Do you tend to eat steak so early in the morning?" he grumbled but saw no other option than to humor Syphus' request. It was his job, after all. As an apology for asking such thing from him so early, Syphus offered to help Burgerpants to get the place ready to be open soon. While he was getting the chairs at the right places, he glanced at Burgerpants, who was making sure the cooking utensils were clean and ready.

"You really make it obvious you don't like this job" he commented. Even though Burgerpants was actually doing an effort, his face showed he'd rather be anywhere else than in that place right now.

Burgerpants made a gesture as if he intended to take out a cigarette, but refrained from doing so. If Mettaton caught him smoking again in the premises, he'd be in a lot of trouble. "It's not a secret. Even my boss knows it!"

It was a bit of a presumptuous thing to ask, but he did it anyway: "Have you tried looking for a job somewhere else?"

Burgerpants sighed between his teeth, very resigned. "I don't have any other option. Look, I hate this job, and I hate my boss, but I get a lot of gold here. That's the one good thing I can say about Mettaton now, he pays well"

 _I guess I can't fault him for staying, then_... In a way, such motive vaguely resonated with Syphus. Money was a necessary thing, after all. Syphus finished cleaning the tables, and left the rag on the counter. "That's too bad. You still have your dreams about being an actor, right? You could keep trying that"

"Shut up about that. I don't want to talk about it," he grumbled. "There's no point in trying to be an actor, not with Mettaton down here"

"You still should try—"

"Here's your steak," he put the bag with the steak on the counter, impatiently waiting for Syphus to take it and leave. The disguised person grabbed the bag, drumming his fingers against it with hesitation. "You can be really annoying sometimes, dude"

"Is there a way I can convince you?"

"No. You're not the only stubborn monster in this place, Syphus, I can be really stubborn too if I want to"

Syphus put his elbows on the counter, leaning forward a bit. "I'll be more obstinate than you and try to prove to you trying what seems impossible is not a bad idea" _Because that's what we're trying to do. Shattering the Barrier usually isn't in the realm of 'possible', you know!_ If he couldn't even say the right mindset, following it with action would be even harder. He had to maintain such positive thought no matter what!

Burgerpants wasn't impressed, though. He shook his head, as if he had just heard a child say something incredibly naïve. "You sound like some motivational tape" he grumbled "Why do you even bother?"

"Because we're friends" Syphus blurted out those words knowing it sounded really cheesy, but it was true. "I hate to see a friend wallowing in his own misery like that"

"You're trying to be as cheesy as possible, seriously," he said. "Okay, I'll tell you what we'll do: prove trying to do something impossible is worth it. Then _maybe_ I'll consider whatever you have to say"

"'Maybe'?"

"You're not going to get anywhere. It'll be as impossible as me trying to be an actor." He grinned sardonically. "Go ahead, try it. I dare you"

"I accept your challenge" to seal the dare, Syphus extended a hand, unafraid of Burgerpants maybe finding out through his sense of touch that Syphus' hand wasn't scaly. It was a worthwhile risk, in his opinion. Burgerpants refrained from rolling his eyes, shaking Syphus' hand. _I can't back off this dare now. I'll find a way to convince him._

 _…somehow._

-ooooo-

 **Day 22**

It was clear the next day that maybe he had bitten more than he could chew.

The whole morning Syphus had tried to think of a convincing way to encourage Burgerpants, but everything he could think were empty words that anyone could say. Burgerpants had been right, he had sounded like a motivational tape, and that much showed he was taking the wrong approach.

Syphus was working on paperwork in the Royal Guard headquarters cafeteria, staring into the paperwork in front of him while he tried to focus on it. 023 pushed a cup of very strong coffee towards him. "Take a break, Syphus. You have been dealing with paperwork for hours"

"Someone has to do it" Not that Syphus was eager to take the bulk of the paperwork in the headquarters. It was just his job.

"Whatever" 023 looked around "What's taking 046 so long? He said he'd bring food from the MTT resort, we literally have an elevator that takes you there"

As if that was his cue, 046 entered, but he didn't bring food for everyone. Instead he threw a single croissant on the table, looking at it with disdain. "Here's our food"

025 stared at the croissant. It didn't look tasty, it had many short black lines all over it. "I thought you'd bring burgers for everyone"

"What did you expect? The elevator is under maintenance, and I got lost in Hotlands. I took a wrong detour and…" he sat and gestured at the croissant, as if that explained everything – which it did, judging by how everyone but Syphus sighed, as if this wasn't the first time something like this happened. Everyone murmured the same name almost at once:

"Muffet"

 _Muffet?_ Syphus looked up. That name sounded familiar, but his memories didn't say much about who Muffet was, this was new to him.

"Oh dear. I hope she didn't get too much money from you" 027 commiserated

"Just today's pay"

"Her baking isn't even that good. You know it's made of spiders, right?" 025 said. Curious, 023 took the croissant, eyeing it carefully.

"Really? I'd have never realized that" he nibbled on it, swallowing after a moment. "It's not bad"

"Even if you like her baking, don't buy it from her. It's awfully expensive" 027 turned her head around, noticing Syphus was listening attentively. "Right?"

"Uh…r-right…" he looked down.

"Wait, you don't know about Muffet?" _Guess there's no fooling 027._

"Never heard of her before. Who is Muffet?" Syphus put the pen aside.

"Muffet is a baker who has her den in Hotland. Anyone who passes by is "encouraged" to buy from her…"

"Nothing illegal, she's just creepily intimidating" 046 pointed out.

"…yes, that's right. When you pass by you're likely to spend all your gold"

"What does she need the gold for?" Syphus asked. Some of the guards present looked at each other, unsure of how to answer that. What did Muffet want the money for? Nobody knew for certain, but 027 offered an answer.

"I remember hearing once she wanted to unite the spider clans from the Ruins and Hotland. Spiders can't survive for long in the cold, so—"

"That's what she wants all that gold for?" 023 stared in disbelief. "How many spiders are in the Ruins?!"

"A lot, I guess" she said "I recommend you stay away from her, Syphus. Muffet can be quite ruthless when she wants to be, and she's not going to stop until she achieves what she wants"

"Is that so?" as if 027's cautionary tip sparked an idea in Syphus' head, he started thinking, scheming something that would just fit his current predicament on how to help Burgerpants. _Yes, this could work..._ "Okay, thank you"

046 tilted his head. "You're not going to listen to 027, are you?"

"I'll use my right to remain silent" Syphus said, winking and returning to the paperwork.

-ooooo-

"Syphus" Burgerpants said, deadpan.

"Yes?"

"I think I hate you" _I can't blame you._ Syphus himself was starting to get really tired of his more impulsive decisions leading to so much trouble. Hindsight was always 20/20.

Then again, you didn't need to be a genius to realize intentionally going to see Muffet was a terrible idea. The guards had tried to warn him, he hadn't listened, and now he was hanging upside-down, wrapped in spider silk and trying not to mention how the blood was rushing to his head. Burgerpants didn't seem to be doing much better, he looked as tired and fed up with everything as usual.

Convincing Burgerpants to go with him after work had been easy, but Burgerpants was not stupid. He knew the danger that lurked in that area of Hotland. "Hey, we should turn back"

"Is it really that bad?"

He had looked at Syphus as if he had just lost his head. "Do you know who lives over there?"

"I know. Sometimes you have to trust the person you're with, my friend. I know it's Muffet, but I think I'll have the situation under control"

His statement had been received with skepticism. "Can I really believe that?"

"Follow me and we'll be okay, I promise"

Clearly Syphus had overestimated his own diplomacy skills.

Muffet lounged on her pet, watching Syphus and Burgerpants struggling and trying to get rid of the web enveloping them. "It's not everyday someone strolls in here on purpose. What could you be looking for in my parlor, hm?"

Spinning a bit, Burgerpants managed to face Syphus, gesturing with his head. "You deal with it. You got us in this mess, you get us out of this mess"

 _You're not wrong, pal..._ It was fair, in a way. Syphus smiled hesitantly, attempting to mask his discomfort behind friendliness, and trying to ignore the goosebumps he was feeling. Or maybe it was spiders walking all over him. "We just wanted to talk"

"Talk? Ahuhuhuhu~" she laughed, covering her mouth with a hand. "Why didn't you say so before, dearies? And here I was about to turn you both into pastry filling!"

Burgerpants blinked. "You're joking, right?" he didn't sound afraid, more like he just couldn't conceive such ludicrous possibility. Muffet winked, somehow.

"Who knows..."

"Then can you untie us already?"

"I didn't say I wasn't _ever_ going to turn you both into pastry filling. Maybe if I had some gold I could be appealed to...?" Syphus swayed a little, some of the gold he brought falling to the floor. "Now that's what I wanted to see. What did you two want to talk about?"

"What are you gathering all that gold for? We're curious" he asked.

" _I_ could have explained that to you instead of you dragging us here to be turned into food" Burgerpants whispered to Syphus. A bit surprised this was the question her guests had come to ask her, she crossed her legs, the pet beneath her rumbling with hunger.

"Is that so? I guess your friend here wanted to hear it straight from me, for some reason" she said "If this is what you wanted to talk about, then I don't mind. You may be aware I have gathered in my parlor all the spiders from Hotland...I have been working to give them a home. I'm talking about _thousands_ of spiders; in case you don't know"

"Including the ones you use in your baked goods?" Burgerpants incisively inquired. Not bothered at all, Muffet nodded.

"Yes, them included. My dear spiders are such a valuable ingredient too; it'd be a shame not to use them" she said "But these aren't the only spiders in the Underground. There are many other spiders in the Ruins. We can contact them anytime, but it's a pity the spiders are separated from each other. It truly breaks my heart.

That's why I'm gathering funds to bring all the spiders from the Ruins all the way here, to Hotland!" It did fit with what the guards had told Syphus. While Burgerpants already knew this much, at least he was listening with attention.

"And your spiders can't survive the cold of Snowdin, right?" he asked.

"Exactly, deary!"

"Why don't you just use a big box and make a few trips?"

That didn't amuse Muffet at all. Her pet lunged forward, snapping at Burgerpants' face, stopping right in front of him and spitting crumbs all over his head. The fast food worker barely flinched, just moving back and trying to stay calm despite almost getting his head bitten off by Muffet's pet. Muffet reached forward, making Burgerpants spin around a bit. "That was so rude of you...if I didn't know better, I'd think you hate spiders"

"You don't need to make your goal so complicated" Burgerpants insisted, to which Muffet pushed him back and forth like a pendulum.

"The spiders deserve only the very best. I cannot expect you to understand, but if you want to do something, you can't cut corners"

"That's easy for you to say..." Burgerpants grumbled.

"I know what people say about what I do, deary, and I don't care what they say: I _will_ succeed" she smiled sweetly, finally stopping Burgerpants from swaying around "And for that I need the gold. You're going to help, aren't you?"

"I'm flat broke" he said – and that wasn't a lie.

Although Syphus had brought Burgerpants here for him to talk with Muffet, he couldn't hold himself back and finally asked something that had been bugging him for a long while: "Is this really the right way to get your gold?"

"What do you mean?" she reached for her tea set, serving herself a cup of tea with calm. Spiders scurried all over the outside of her teacup.

"You're pretty much extorting any monster that passes through this place" _Nothing illegal, 046 said. Yeah, right._ "No matter how you look at it that's wro—"

"So what?"

Muffet's nonchalant response made Syphus choke in his words. He hadn't expected such a quick response to his righteous pontification. She sipped her tea, as if she was talking about the weather with guests who weren't hanging from webs. "W-What...?" he asked in disbelief.

"Sometimes to do something you really want to do, you'll have to do what's necessary, even if other people don't approve of it"

"But to do something like this—"

Muffet looked straight at Syphus and said the words that'd shake him to the core:

 **"What would you regret more? Doing nothing and being unable to ever succeed, or doing something that may hurt others but will be good in the end?"**

Syphus had no idea what to reply to that. He felt he should say immediately 'of course I'd regret more hurting others!' but the words didn't come out of his throat. Maybe it's because that's not something he could say with sincerity.

He was at a loss of words.

Satisfied with Syphus' silence, Muffet turned her head around at Burgerpants. "What about you? What would you regret more?"

Unlike Syphus, Burgerpants answered immediately, although he went for total apathy: "I don't care"

"Really?" Muffet sounded disappointed.

"I have no goal. Look at me, lady, I'm just some guy who is going to be flipping burgers for the rest of his life. I have no time to be thinking about that kinda stuff"

"That's very sad, deary" she pulled from the web, effortlessly liberating Burgerpants. He fell to the floor and stood up slowly, always looking at the pet still growling and looking like it'd like nothing better than take a bite out of Burgerpants "You don't have gold, you don't have purpose...I don't know what to say to you. Just go"

"Not without him" he pointed with his thumb behind him, to where Syphus was still suspended.

"That's going to be different" a bunch of spiders brought a small box full of pastries. Muffet got off her pet, took the box and approached Syphus, licking her lips. "Can I offer you a pastry? It'll be worth every piece of gold you give me.

Shall we do a business deal? Ahuhuhuhu~"

If something could be said about Muffet's good traits, is that she was rather focused to achieving her goal but also had a certain sense of fairness in her, enough for her to let Syphus go once he took out every single gold he had on him. Syphus walked through Hotland, staring at the donut he had bought. "That went well" Burgerpants commented, hands in his pockets. "That Muffet monster isn't so bad, but I'd like to stay away from her from now on. Don't take me to her again" Syphus said nothing to that. They walked in silence for a bit longer, he craved another cigarette. "Who cares what she said, anyway. She knows nothing about me. I'm not going to go in a journey of enlightenment or something like that just because she says so"

"...yeah...?" he said without much enthusiasm.

"She talks a lot of nonsense" Burgerpants said "But in a way...hm..." he couldn't say she was wrong. So what if he had no purpose in life or anything? It wasn't like he could do anything. Everything was against him, he had a job chaining him down, and nothing in the Underground would be of help. It made no sense to even give thought to any of this.

Still...he couldn't get those words out of his head, no matter how much he tried.

 **You feel Burgerpants' starting to reexamine his thoughts**

 **The Fast Food Worker Social Link has reached Rank 3!**

 **Your power to create Personas of the Magician Arcana has grown!**

Burgerpants expected Syphus to reply with something, be encouraging, or even say that Muffet was a cold-blooded scammer who had swindled him from way too much gold, but Syphus said nothing. In a way it was unsettling. So far Burgerpants had known him as a kind of annoying, well-intentioned reptile who was trying to befriend him for some bizarre reason. To see him silent and lost in thought...it was something he wasn't sure he liked.

"Speak already, you're making me antsy" the worker finally said. Syphus blinked, looking up. "I thought this whole thing was for _me_ , why are _you_ the one overthinking stuff?"

Syphus clicked his claws against each other, unsure how to put into words what he was feeling. "Some of what she said just hit a nerve, that's all"

"Don't pay attention to her, I told you it's nonsense. It's not worth it" he glanced at the donut that was still in Syphus' hand. "I bet you're getting depressed because you had to buy that thing for way too much gold. I'll deal with it for you"

"Huh?" What kind of offer was that?

"I'm going to eat it or something"

Apparently that got Syphus out of his reverie, he smiled sardonically. "I spent all the gold I had today in a single donut. I'm not going to let it go to waste after having paid that much!" and before he could change his mind, he opened his mouth and ate it in two bites, chewing thoughtfully. "...huh" _023 wasn't wrong, it's not too bad._

"What? Too many spiders?"

Syphus swallowed. "I dunno, but it wasn't as bad as I thought. I'm definitely not going to buy another, but it actually was kind of tasty"

"You must be insane"

"Better that than being completely stagnant like you!" Syphus seemed to have returned to his usual attitude, pushing Burgerpants lightly to a side. Burgerpants turned his head around to hide how he snorted, actually letting some relief show on his face even if it was just for a moment.

That was a better attitude on that usually upbeat guy, as far as Burgerpants was concerned.

-ooooo-

 **Day 23**

He hated to admit it, but what Muffet said simply didn't get out of his head. The next day he was still thinking about that.

"If you don't feel okay you should go home" Undyne had told him after a helmet slipped from his hands, clattering to the floor right in front of her.

"I'm okay, just a bit distracted"

"You look more than distracted" Cohen had said when he found Syphus staring blankly at a wall.

"I just have a lot to think about"

"Celia once told me when there's a lot to think about, you should empty your head by talking about it with someone" Ananas suggested, sitting near him and smiling, expecting him to open up to her.

"I think I can deal with this by myself"

"Are you sure? I could help you with anything that's bothering you" Toriel had kindly said, leaving some supplies they had forgotten a few days ago.

"No, thank you. I just need to be alone for a moment"

"You're not going to be alone in here" Burgerpants had said curtly.

"It's not the kind of thing I can talk with just anyone, okay?"

"I can't help you" Alphonse had said, finishing the fusion "You'll have to take the decision by yourself"

"I don't know what to do! Seriously, what am I supposed to do?!"

"I'M WILLING TO LISTEN! YOU CAN TRUST ME, I WILL HELP YOU, I PROMISE!" Papyrus had immediately offered his help, as expected.

"Thanks, Papyrus, but I...I don't know what to do"

He couldn't remember any other time he had felt so lost.

His demeanor had turned rather pensive that day, so much everyone noticed it and tried to find out what was wrong, and he hadn't said anything about it to anyone. How was he expected to explain what was bothering him so much? It's not like anyone would understand it!

...or maybe there was someone who could faintly understand it.

"Sans, do you have a moment?" Syphus kicked some of the snow on the base of Sans' sentry station. The Snowdin forests were as silent as usual, there was nobody at all in the area other than Sans and him. That was convenient privacy. Sans, as relaxed as usual, nodded, indicating the empty space beside him inside the stall.

"come over here. what's eating you?"

Syphus stands beside Sans, leaning on one of the poles holding the roof. "I need advice. I'm trapped in a situation I see no way out of, so—"

"you really think i'm the guy you should talk with?" Sans sighed, shaking his head. His tone was more of disbelief than anything else. What was Syphus supposed to reply to that? "fine. tell good ol' sans what's up with you"

Now that Sans had given his blessing, Syphus tried to order his thoughts, but he just had no idea how to put it. He couldn't just go ahead and say he needed a human soul. Maybe he could say he needed Determination? Maybe that wasn't much better, it wasn't like there were a lot of sources of Determination other than human souls. There simply was no correct way to phrase what was troubling him so much!

While he kept trying to think a discreet way to say what he wanted to say, Sans decided to take the initiative. He was more than willing to force the matter wide open if he needed to. "whatever you're not sure you should do will end in someone getting hurt, am I right?"

"What do you mean?"

"come on, 'phus, what else could it be?" Sans shrugged, sounding very carefree despite what he was about to say "besides, it's not like it'd be the first time you hurt someone"

Syphus couldn't avoid looking away. He should have guessed Sans wouldn't have any problems saying such things, even though the piece had tried to pretend anything like that had never happened. "What are you talking about?"

"your soul says it all, pal"

LV 3

The skeleton playfully shoved Syphus, grinning. "don't make those faces, I'm not judging you. I dunno what happened or why, and I don't really care, okay?"

"I just don't like how you can know something like that, Sans"

"that simply means you feel your sins crawling on your back. good to know you still have a conscience" he winked, as if Sans hadn't just insinuated Syphus had something to be regretful for "lemme ask you something, though: this person you hurt…was it someone I know?"

How was he supposed to answer to that?! Well it didn't matter. Sans was frighteningly perceptive, if Syphus tried to lie he'd know. There was no more option than being honest. "...yes"

"figures" Sans got a chair from under the counter of his sentry station and unfolded it, getting comfy in it "it's no big deal, don't worry. besides, whatever you need to do would be undone by you loading the timeline back"

"I'd rather not to do awful stuff in the first place, Sans"

"really? that's great" Sans wasn't sure if he actually believed Syphus' statement "then don't do it, simple enough. what'd happen if you don't do anything?"

Syphus scratched his neck, unsure. "...nothing? Nothing at all, I guess"

"then doing nothing is an option. take it from me, i do nothing all the time and i live a nice good life" he said, leaning the chair back "nothin' wrong with doin' nothin'"

"I just feel like I have no option other than doing something" What'd his master do if he refused to do anything? It wasn't like he, as a piece, could refuse to do something. He was chained to his other self's desires and plans, no matter how much he wanted to resist.

He was screwed.

Sans closed his eye sockets. "that's bad. then guess there's no option" That sounded like it meant Sans saw no point to discussing it any further, no matter how much Syphus wanted. Looking for advice from Sans hadn't been useful at all.

Everything was now on Sisyphus' hands. It all depended on him.

-ooooo-

 **Day 24**

It was very early in the day, so early almost nobody in the village was awake. It was going to be a couple hours before he needed to get going to New Home to work.

His halberd – the halberd Undyne had given him and Alphys had painstakingly improved – was there to his side, lying against the wall. Syphus didn't have his disguise on, feeling rather disheartened and not wanting to hide himself. Slowly, he raised his hands, forming a SAVE point. He'd be returning to this point if he actually went through this whole thing. Asking Alphys about containers that could hold a soul was a tad awkward, he had been saved by the fact Alphys was too reticent about asking why he needed one.

There still was plenty of time to go back, to pretend he wasn't going to do anything bad, but it felt like a compulsion was keeping him right where he was. To his right there was the entrance to the large cavern where the Hidden Village was at, he could see the cottages from where he was standing.

Even though his master was keeping him rooted to that place, he took it as a good sign. Not even Sisyphus was feeling like targeting a concrete person to take their soul. Even though he was still going ahead, Syphus took that as reticence. Maybe there was hope! Maybe he'd actually not have to do something like this!

The plan was to stay there and attack the first person to pass through. There were only like two people who'd pass through, and one of them was someone he was someone he'd sooner use his own soul than take hers. No way he'd take Ananas' soul.

"Syphus, you woke up early"

Ciruel had ascended the stairs. He was wearing his fake antlers and the purple facepaint, ready to get going to Snowdin. Syphus smiled faintly, refusing to look at him. "I couldn't sleep" That wasn't a lie, he spent the whole night staring at the ceiling of Cohen's cottage.

"No kidding, you look awful" he took off his glasses, rubbing a spot of purple paint off the glass. "Want to go with me to Snowdin? I'm sure Papyrus would want you to be there"

Syphus didn't reply for a moment. "No, I'm fine. I have to deliver this thing" he nudged the halberd. "Thank you for your concern"

The former scholar didn't suspect anything, he just adjusted his scarf and nodded. "Guess I'll see you later. Have a good day, Syphus" he said, turned around and started walking in direction of Waterfall. Syphus took a shaky deep breath and carefully grabbed the pole of the halberd, slowly separating it from the wall, and stepped forward to follow Ciruel.

-ooooo-

There was some comfort in knowing Sisyphus hadn't immediately jumped onto making his move. He ad been staring at the board for a couple minutes already. The move they dreaded was obvious, Cornio hadn't managed to move enough pieces to ensure there would be no chance, so their last hope was that Sisyphus would think it twice.

Lucia was standing up near the window, looking outside. This was a decision Sisyphus had to make himself, she wasn't going to interfere at all. Cornio, on the other side of the board, was begging silently for Sisyphus to take the right decision. Nobody had to die! Flowey wasn't needed! Sisyphus had to realize that, surely he knew that by obtaining a human soul and using it to recreate with Alphys the experiments that made him exist he'd only bring misery to everyone.

The corners of Sisyphus' mouth twitched downwards. Even though he had every intention of making the move, he was hesitating. He had said he was going to do it, but when push came to shove, he didn't have in himself the heart to throw a friend under the bus to save another –to do something that wasn't even guaranteed to work. Even if Flowey was created and existed, that didn't mean he'd turn into Asriel. He'd be Flowey forever, unless Sisyphus threw all caution to the wind and tried to force it to happen, which would require even more souls, not only of his friends, but potentially of other innocent people.

Was helping Asriel really worth it? He thought making Flowey exist was something that needed to be done, but did he have enough restraint to not do something as astonishingly cruel as abusing his power to meddle with souls until he got what he wanted? Heck, that was supposing Flowey would even cooperate! There was no guarantee of that!

"Sisyphus, please…" Cornio said, trying to push him away from the brink of doing something that would lead only to disaster.

"Don't talk to me. I'm thinking"

"You know it isn't right. You don't have to do it"

"You're wasting your time" Sisyphus looked up "I don't expect you to understand, but that monster…I owe a lot to him"

"Then do him a favor and don't kill someone just to save him! This wouldn't even save him!"

"I can't just leave him not existing. I have worked for decades to try to solve everything that's wrong in these timelines, and I'm finally on the right track. It'd be cruel if I managed to succeed and the one person I owe so much to isn't there to have a good life"

"You're talking about taking a friend's soul and using it for your own ends! That's—it's wrong!" Cornio stood up, pleading "You have to reconsider, don't do it!"

"It'll be okay. Even if I do it, I just have to LOAD and it'll be like he never died" Sisyphus smiled, feeling very cunning. He was lucky so many things had fallen in place to help him achieve this moment. "He won't even remember what happened. Don't worry, I have a plan!"

"You're going to _kill_ him, it's not like breaking something and then gluing it back! Sisyphus, this is a _life_!"

Something about the way Cornio said it was very grating to Sisyphus. "I know that! Do you think I'm stupid or something?"

"N-No, that's not what I was saying—" even though Sisyphus was indeed being stupid, Cornio didn't want to say that to his face. Baring his teeth in a scowl, Sisyphus grabbed the top of a pawn, eyeing the piece he was aiming for, directly in diagonal to the pawn. "Sisyphus, please don't—"

"I'm tired, Cornio. It has been decades of work, I have been trying to do this for _decades_. I'm closer than ever to success"

"You're going to hurt someone who is your friend!"

"I don't care! I have to do this!" Sisyphus' fingers trembled. Even though he didn't want to admit it, this was hurting him. Ciruel was indeed a friend, sacrificing him was something he'd have preferred not to do.

But what option did he have now? The muscles of his arms tensed.

Cornio's eyes darted between Sisyphus' face and the piece he was lifting up. It was as if everything was in slow motion. ' _You have to stop him'_ a familiar voice said inside himself.

'I know, he's not listening!'

 _'You can't let him die, you have to do something!'_

Cornio's hand moved to his pocket, where he had the brooch that held the illusion that disguised him, but he didn't undo it. The other him inside his soul was urging him to do anything to stop Sisyphus. _'Hurry!'_

'I know, I have to—but is this really the right choice?!' If trying to revive Flowey – and Asriel, by proxy – was what was pushing Sisyphus to do something like that, who knew how he'd react to seeing a grown version of Asriel in front of him. Somehow he had the feeling it wouldn't be with relief.

 _'Then…'_ the other him hesitated _'Maybe you could…fight him?_ ' he didn't sound certain at all.

'Fight him?!'

 _'It's the last resort! I don't like the idea either, but you—_ we _have to stop him!'_

But Cornio didn't dare to fight. The emotions inside him were conflicting and disorienting. He was feeling outraged, he wanted to grab Sisyphus from the shoulders and hold him until he recovered a certain measure of sanity, he wanted to yell Lucia for help, he deeply regretted letting things get to this situation. From his soul he felt desperation emanating. Desperation, sadness, a deep fondness towards Sisyphus, it all welled inside him, mixing with his own. He couldn't think straight long enough to think of something convincing to say, he didn't even know if he how he wanted to say it. Sisyphus was an acquaintance, he was a friend, he held a lot of gratitude towards him, he felt like that man was more trouble than it was worth it.

Certainly, having two different versions of himself in one body was tearing him apart emotionally. His soul felt like it was going to burn straight out of his chest.

Without even thinking it, as if the Asriel who thought of Sisyphus as a good friend had done it, his hand grabbed Sisyphus' wrist, enveloping it. "D-Don't do it!" he pleaded one last time. "You're going to bring a lot of trouble. This won't be worth it!"

"…I'll make it worth it" that was his reply, cold as ice. With a flick of his wrist, he managed to get out of Cornio's grasp.

It took him just a second to move his pawn and knock down the piece.

* * *

 **SOCIAL LINKS:**

 **Fool - Frisk - RANK 5**

 **Magician - Burgerpants - RANK 3**

 **Priestess - Alphys - RANK 4**

 **Empress - Toriel - RANK 2**

 **Emperor - Cohen - RANK 4**

 **Hierophant - Ciruel - RANK 2**

 **Lovers - ? - RANK 0**

 **Chariot - Ananas - RANK 5**

 **Justice - Undyne - RANK 4**

 **Hermit - Gaster - RANK 1**

 **Fortune - ? - RANK 0**

 **Strength - Celia - RANK 1**

 **Hanged Man - ? - RANK 0**

 **Death - Cornio - RANK 3**

 **Temperance - ? - RANK 0**

 **Devil - ? - RANK 0**

 **Tower - ? - RANK 0**

 **Star - Lucia - RANK 2**

 **Moon - ? - RANK 0**

 **Sun - Papyrus - RANK 3**

 **Judgment - Team - RANK 4**

 **Aeon - Syphus - RANK 3**

 **Jester - Alphonse - RANK 2**


	32. Consequences

There was a long silence.

Cornio stared at the fallen piece in disbelief. He almost couldn't believe Sisyphus had actually done it. He had wanted to believe that somewhere in Sisyphus' desperation and increasingly unhealthy drive to fulfill his goal, he'd have enough empathy and decency to not sacrifice one life to save another. Nobody could even say Sisyphus' actions were helping Asriel or anyone in any way! In Cornio's opinion – in _anyone_ 's opinion – what Sisyphus had done was reprehensible and completely senseless!

And, judging by Sisyphus' expression, he hadn't realized that yet.

"You really did it..." he managed to say, it felt like he was struggling to push the words out of his throat. Sisyphus nodded slowly, as if unsure of what he had done.

"I guess I did"

"I thought—I thought you wouldn't! I thought you would realize-!"

The more Cornio spoke, the more irritated Sisyphus felt. Who was this guy to say such things to him? Such sanctimonious preaching! A visceral frustration bubbled in Sisyphus, until he found himself snarling a few words before even realizing it: "Do you _ever_ shut up?!"

"W-What?"

"I'm sick of you trying to tell me what's supposedly better for anyone" Sisyphus refrained from raising his voice, but his tone made very clear he wasn't happy at all. "Who do you think you are?"

"I'm not trying to tell you what to do! I'm trying to show you this is all wrong!" Cornio wasn't holding back, though. He was starting to shout.

" _Wrong_?! Right now the last thing I care about is what's wrong or not! Listen, that kid is—"

"You don't know what Asriel would like!" Cornio stood up. For a moment he almost blurted out 'what I'd like', but he had to keep his identity under wraps for a while longer. Lucia had been very emphatic about not letting him know this was Asriel. "Do you really think he wanted you to kill one of your friends?!"

"Shut. Up" Sisyphus ordered "You don't know anything. You have no right to talk about stuff you don't understand!" his face had a very ugly clay-like color, he was outraged "You're just some random witch Lucia brought to help me do this. If you think you can tell anyone here what to do, you're very mistaken!"

Cornio bared his teeth. He didn't remember the last time he felt so angry at anyone. No right to scold him? He had every right in the world to judge what Sisyphus had done! He wanted to hold Sisyphus and get him to stop shouting, to reveal he was Asriel and that the one Asriel Sisyphus knew was aware of what had just happened and felt aghast about it all. His anger overcame any good intentions he had. Trying very hard not to show how hurt he felt, he pushed the board away from him. "I'm done"

"What?"

"I'm done with this game. I'm not playing anymore"

"Wait a minute, you can't just stop and leave!"

"I can! That's what I'm going to do!" it hurt to say that, knowing his world and every monster in the Underground was going to suffer the consequences, but as he saw it, with Sisyphus getting involved things could only get worse "You need two people to play the game. I'm not going to play anymore. You're on your own"

"You can't leave them like that!" a bit of desperation entered Sisyphus' voice.

"I have to. You're going to hurt them even more if this continues, and I'm not going to let you do that"

 **Cornio lashes at you with justified anger.**

 **You feel your relationship with Cornio has soured.**

 **The Unusual Witch Social Link of the Death Arcana has become reversed!**

 **Your relationship can't continue unless you reconcile**

Not willing to let Sisyphus try to change his mind, Cornio disappeared immediately, moving to his room. His form simply faded away. There was a soft tinkering noise where he had just been standing, but Sisyphus didn't hear it, he was distraught at how badly that had gone. He knew Cornio's anger was justified, yet he refused to admit it. Sisyphus clenched his fists, stomped around, growling like a caged animal. He couldn't believe Cornio had gone away and left the game like that! What was he supposed to do now? This was ridiculous!

Once he started to calm down, he heard Lucia say from the window:

"That was very stupid of you, Sisyphus"

He knew she was right. "Yeah…I guess it was" The reversed social link proved he had screwed up royally. That was the point when he realized he had made some very bad decisions.

"You know you single-handedly ruined everything you had been working for, don't you?" she approached slowly, bending over to pick up the object Cornio left behind when he teleported to his bedroom: the brooch Lucia had given him to hide his form. She concealed the brooch with her hand "The game can't continue if there aren't two players"

Sisyphus felt a coldness in the pit of his stomach. "Wait, if you replace him, you should be able to—"

"I refuse"

"What?"

"It's for the better I'm not your opponent. Not only I'd crush you in no time, I'd also refuse to undo my victory. This world you and Cornio were oh so focused on saving would meet quite the unfortunate end"

"But…" he almost tried to appeal to her saying she knew how important this was to him, but it was useless. He knew she held no love or concern for the monsters or the humans in that world. Everything she had done had been for Sisyphus and Cornio's sake, but she wasn't going to go out of her way to help anyone.

Not that she was so callous she didn't notice Sisyphus was distraught about what he had just done. This was the apprentice she had hosted for thirty years already, she couldn't just turn her back on him without a word of support. "Is this world and your goal of creating the best timeline possible really that important to you?"

"Of course it is!"

"…your actions don't say that. Trust me, if I were in your position I'd have done the same you did about obtaining that soul, but you failed to consider Cornio's feelings. You should have known he's not like other witches. He cares about everyone in that world…

…most likely he cares more than you do"

 _I do care about this world…_

Lucia approached him, and with gentle hand she pushed him down, onto his chair. Sisyphus looked a bit dazed, confused. "You're such a foolish person…but I understand you. As I said, if I had been in your position, I'd have done the same"

 **You feel Lucia is showing his support…albeit reluctantly**

 **The Witch of Hope Social Link has reached Rank 3!**

 **Your power to create Personas of the Star Arcana has grown!**

Whatever relief Sisyphus felt in that moment was short-lived. Lucia towered over him. He couldn't see her eyes hidden behind the blindfold, but something about her was threatening. Even though she was smiling serenely, she continued talking, slowly raising a hand. "But I must say…I'm running out of patience" It felt like something large and slimy was pressing onto him, making sure he couldn't move from the chair, but he couldn't see anything.

"Lucia…?"

"You screwed up. You made your opponent run away. I couldn't care less you're playing with anyone's life, but what I cannot tolerate is that you waste my time"

"I didn't mean to—"

Her voice lowered. "I don't have a hobby of taking random people under my wing, Sisyphus…no, allow me to call you by your former name, _Patta_ " He involuntarily felt a shiver down his spine "I rescued you from that hopeless situation of yours, yes…but if you believe I did such thing because I felt sorry for you, or out of the good of my own heart, then you're _gravely mistaken_ "

"Lucia, I—"

"Silence!" she scowled. He could feel her stare burning into him, even through her blindfold. "You incompetent fool…let me tell you exactly what you shall do now" the invisible grip on him tightened "Cornio will be here in matter of hours – leave that to me, I'll ensure that. Once he's here, you _will_ convince him to continue"

"I understand, I will!"

Lucia nodded. "It seems you understood the implicit warning about failure not being an option…but just in case, let me remind you I was the one who gave you new life, and therefore I could throw it away as easily as I granted it to you. You will return to your former state…" her face was so close to his he could feel her breath "…I'll personally tear you apart bit by bit until you're no more than a cloud of dust.

Have I made myself clear?"

Whatever was holding Sisyphus down let him go, but he still struggled to say something. He hadn't seen Lucia so angry at him or at anyone ever before! "Y-Yes, I understand. I'm sorry"

"I'm glad we have reached an understanding" she extended a hand and lightly grabbed Sisyphus' shoulder, helping him stand up from his seat. "Do you know what's the worst part about this decision you made? Cornio isn't the only one who is very cross with you right now"

A feeling of dread invaded Sisyphus. "Who else is upset?"

"You'll see. For now I think you should leave this parlor and go see them. The sooner you face their disappointment, the better"

She was right, even though Sisyphus wasn't sure who she was talking about. When he opened the parlor doors, he immediately saw what she meant:

The Velvet Room was awaiting him. Taking a deep breath to prepare himself for what was likely to be another grueling conversation, Sisyphus entered and closed the doors, walking slowly to the couch and sitting down. The air was heavy, and it wasn't only because of the stares Sisyphus was trying so hard not to let affect him. The environment had also changed.

The once active cogs that covered the walls had stopped, only a few still spinning in a corner of the room. The atmosphere was colder, and it wasn't only because of Alphonse's glacial glare and Igor's deeply disappointed stare. Sisyphus took a shaking breath, feeling the weight of his sins on his shoulders. He wanted to explain himself, to apologize if it was necessary, to ask what would happen now, but he felt talking first could be the wrong decision.

After a moment of silence, Igor spoke. "You have done something rather regrettable. Due to your actions, your journey and objective have been greatly hindered, and I fear you may not be able to rectify the situation" Sisyphus didn't say anything, he simply nodded. He knew Igor wasn't wrong. He still felt he did the right thing – to some extent – but he was now starting to realize the weight of his actions. "Do you remember the terms of the contract you signed?"

""I'll accept the consequences of my actions" Something like that" Sisyphus replied with thin voice, barely perceptible.

"Yes. As you may suppose, the consequences of the murder you committed will have serious repercussions, not only in your relationships with people, but also in your journey" Igor said. "I'm aware the person you were cooperating with to bring the goal to completion has decided to stop helping"

"Wow...news sure got around fast" Sisyphus muttered.

"Surprised? You shouldn't be" Alphonse's voice was like a bucketful of ice poured onto Sisyphus. He had a hard time even glancing at the attendant.

Igor put his hand over the table, one single tarot card appearing on it. "As I said, murdering had repercussions. What could have been won't be anymore" he showed the card. The Hierophant "The Hierophant is the card of order and mentors, but it also can symbolize the need to start thinking by yourself, even despite relying on someone else to help you.

...it's unfortunate the relationship you could have had with someone who would have needed your help is not going to happen" He put the card back on the table. Sisyphus stared at it, a bit confused.

"But if my piece LOADs, Ciruel won't remember anything"

"You betrayed that person's trust. That is not something you can fix like that. You will have to bear the burden of what you did, for the rest of your life"

 **You have committed a heinous betrayal.**

 **The Ciruel Social Link of the Hierophant Arcana has become broken**

"I'm sorry to inform you that you won't have access to any Personas of the Hierophant arcana"

Sisyphus tried to say something, but there were no excuses, or anything he could say to make his actions look any better. He had done something dreadful and he had to accept it. After a moment of pain, Sisyphus managed to get words out of his throat. "Is there anything I can do to fix that?"

Igor's voice acquired a certain hardness "There's no way to fix a broken Social Link. Allow me to reiterate: you must accept the consequences of your actions" Sisyphus closed his eyes for a moment, he really had screwed up. Igor's voice softened "However, not all is lost. There's a chance you can straighten up the situation and continue find a way to complete the goal. It'll need a lot of effort...but we believe you may be capable of that difficult feat"

"We?!" Alphonse blurted out, earning a severe glare from Igor. Seething, the attendant clutched the armrests of his chair, digging their nails in. Sisyphus once again avoided looking at Alphonse.

Sisyphus took a deep breath before responding to Igor. "Yeah—Yes, I can do it. About what I did...it seemed like a good enough idea at the time. I had to try doing something-"

Alphonse's nails dug further into the armrests "Are you even listening to yourself?! Sisyphus, you murdered one of the humans you claimed you were going to work hard to save! You're going to say excuses now?!"

"Another friend was completely absent. I needed him to exist, it wouldn't be—"

"You _needed_ him to exist or you _wanted_ him to exist?"

The implicit truth in the question made Syphus recoiled. "I know it was the wrong thing to do, but you have to understand—"

"I don't want to understand! How could you have killed Ciruel? What did he even to do you?"

"Can you stop interrupting me?" Syphus grit his teeth, his regret starting to be replaced with annoyance at the constant shouting "I needed a human SOUL, that's all. I had nothing against Ciruel"

"Would you have done the same if you couldn't LOAD?"

"I don't know; I didn't think about it at the time"

"You killed someone you should save! I don't understand how you could—"

"Ugh, shut up already!" Syphus shouted, his hands curling into fists "Come on, LOADing is an option! His death wasn't going to be permanent! It was going to be as if nothing happened, and I would get to keep the SOUL. It was nothing that couldn't be fixed! And it was for someone else's good!

Besides, why does a death matter when it can be reversed?"

There was silence after Syphus said that. Alphonse could only stare in astonishment, while Igor's toothy grin diminished noticeably. Syphus breathed roughly for several seconds before he realized the heavy implications of his words, and by then it was too late to soften the blow. That didn't mean he wasn't going to try, though. "N-No, wait! I didn't mean to say...to say that..."

"You're not human. There's nothing human about you. You're not a human nor a monster" Alphonse's eyes were wide open, and Syphus had the feeling they weren't referring to his species "What are you?"

Syphus turned his head upwards to the ceiling, feeling like he had a knot in his throat. He knew this was going to be a tough meeting, but it all had gone much, much worse than he thought it would. Alphonse's question hurt, but it was true. A normal human wouldn't behave like that. A normal monster wouldn't behave like that. There was something deeply wrong with Syphus now, and he knew very well what it was:

"I'm a witch, I guess" Syphus, replied mutedly, closing his eyes tightly and trying not to show how upset he felt, but his clenched eyes and the way his shoulder tensed betrayed his emotions.

 **You have earned Alphonse's ire**

 **Your relationship with Alphonse has soured**

 **The Velvet Room Attendant Social Link of the Jester Arcana has become reversed!**

 **Your relationship can't continue unless you reconcile**

Things couldn't have gone any worse. Or...well, they could, actually. At least Syphus had the consolation the mission wasn't completely ruined.

"Please calm down, Alphonse" Igor said calmly, turning his head to look at the attendant. Alphonse lowered their head into their hands, clutching his face as if it was going to fall down, and sat onto their armchair again. Igor took the time to glance at them with concern before settling his attention back onto Syphus "There's nothing else to be said for now. Please return anytime to continue using our services. Until then, farewell"

Sisyphus didn't move much. He did stand up, but he didn't try to leave. The noise of cogs moving was gone. If the Velvet Room was supposed to be related to his subconscious, then things really had gone off the rails, judging by such a drastic change. "What am I supposed to do now?" he asked to Igor.

Igor shook his head, almost melancholic. "I'm afraid that's something I can't answer for you. You'll have to find the answer by yourself – although I believe that's going to be difficult. I'm aware your...your piece is rather dissatisfied, too"

"What?"

That's when he realized it.

 **You have committed some grievous mistakes**

 **Your relationship with Syphus has soured.**

 **The Last Timeline Social Link of the Aeon Arcana has become reversed!**

 **Your relationship can't continue unless you reconcile**

Things had stopped being fun and games long ago. It was time for him to stop playing around and be more careful before everything spiraled out of control...more than it already did.

...

...

...

 **GAME INTERRUPTED**

-ooooo-

Have you ever felt that weird feeling you have when you sit on your leg and it feels all tingly, and then it feels all numb when you try to move?

That was how my head felt, kind of. One moment everything was...it wasn't _normal_ , but I wasn't feeling like I was in a dream. The next moment, it feels like I have breathing space, like for the first time since I can remember I'm truly by myself.

It's not like I was a puppet or anything like that. I had free will, I could take my own decisions, but all the time there was this nagging feeling someone was watching over my shoulder, like if I did something wrong, he'd make me pay. I know it's my master. I guess it'd be better if I, as a piece, didn't know about him.

Not that it mattered anymore. I was by myself for the first time, and I was holding in my hands a glass container with a purple human soul floating inside. I felt the bile burning my throat, but I forced myself to hold onto the container, like it was going to fade in thin air the moment I stopped. I had committed a very ugly action to obtain it, turning back now wasn't an option.

...okay, I admit it: I wanted the chance to bring Asriel back. I have never met that child before, but if the memories I was given about him are accurate, he doesn't deserve a doomed existence.

I looked around, trying to figure out where in Waterfall I was now. The Velvet Room had to be nearby, but I wasn't sure how to get there quickly. If anyone saw me holding a human soul, things were likely to get awkward. I walked quicker, staring forward and trying to recognize the tunnel I was in. If I remembered correctly, Undyne's house was in that direction, so the Velvet Room had to be—

"Syphus?"

I froze. I recognized that voice right behind me. It took all my willpower to not to beg for forgiveness right then and there. Slowly, I turned around, managing to move and keep the container behind my back, and faced Toriel. "Hello..."

"There you are. Could you help me for a moment? I'd like to organize something with you and the rest of the village"

It seemed she didn't suspect anything, but it was matter of time before the gig was up. I had to get away immediately! "I'm...a bit busy right now"

Toriel smiled patiently. "You shouldn't be wandering around, especially without your disguise. Here, let me accompany you back"

"I'm serious, I can't" I stepped back. My nervousness must have shown on my face because Toriel's demeanor changed. She seemed worried – sincerely concerned, not like she was trying to get my guard down.

"Is everything okay? You seem rather nervous today"

"Everything's just fine. I'm in a hurry, that's all"

"Why have you been keeping your hands behind your back? Are you holding something I shouldn't see?" She stepped towards me, extending a hand as if to put it on my shoulders. I tried to keep my distance, but the more I stepped back, the quicker she advanced. Slowly her expression shifted from concern to suspicion. In hindsight, I was very lousy at acting natural.

"I don't need help! I mean it!" My heel hit a rock. I almost lost my balance, I'd have fallen right on top of the container if Toriel hadn't stopped my fall. She managed to grab me. I think she saw the container, because I had barely managed to recover my footing when I saw her horrified face. I gasped and decided this was a good time to start running. Taking advantage of the few seconds it'd take her to process what I was holding, I turned around and ran, I ran as fast as I could.

It felt like I'd trip and fall at any moment, but somehow I managed to not crash anywhere. I didn't dare to look back, I was certain Toriel was following me – and when a fireball flew right by my ear I knew I was right. "Stop!" I heard her command. I instinctively slowed down, I had to force myself to continue moving.

I clutched the container to my chest, and turned around the corner. During my running I didn't realize where I was passing through, I was too worried about Toriel chasing me to pay much attention to what path I chose to run into. When I found out the tunnel led to a dead end, I turned around, trying very hard not to show how much I wanted to surrender and plead for mercy. As if she'd be merciful after finding me clutching someone's soul!

Toriel advanced towards me, her paws enveloped with fire. I couldn't avoid glancing at them instead of to her face. "Toriel, I can explain"

"Then I shall listen to your explanation. Let me warn you, though: this looks very bad for you" at least she did stop advancing towards me – not that it helped much, my mind was blank! What kind of excuse could I think?

Without looking away from her hands, I tried to find the right words. "I found Ciruel. He was hurt, and I…I tried to save him, but he was too hurt" I was sure my voice sounded anything but convincing right now. Her fire seemed to intensify in brightness – I…I think she didn't believe not even a single word.

"What, exactly, hurt him?"

"I don't know. I tried to find where the blood was coming from, but—" okay, now I was certain. She wasn't believing me at all. Not that I can blame her, that was some truly awful lying. I shut up, as if that was going to save me.

My silence must have infuriated her further, because she glared at me. I cowered under her stare. "You're lying"

"I…what?" I must have looked very stupid, with my mouth hanging open. I tried to look innocent, but I'm pretty sure I looked more like I had lost my mind.

"I'll be frank with you" she slowly took a deep breath "I believe you're lying. I can't fathom what intentions you have with that soul, but you have made a big mistake" Yeah, I sure noticed! "I'm sorry, but I'll stop you"

"Toriel, please!"

It was no use. She – very rightfully, may I say – she was going to stop me.

 ***Toriel blocks the way!**

There was no way I was going to fight her; I had hurt too many people already.

 ***Act - Plead**

 ***You beg for mercy. Toriel stares at you with disgust.**

I tried to convince her to stop, to listen to me. She completely rejected my words. All she did was glare at me, and once I felt fear just from knowing how much I had made her mad, she moved to attack. Fireballs formed complicated patterns in the air, flying at great speed towards me. Ember after ember touched me, I felt the intense heat emanating from them, for a moment it felt like I had been stuck in an oven. I couldn't see, all I could see was fire, until it was over as soon as it started. I panted, doubling over, and tried to focus, the blue rocks were a welcome respite after the intense light of her fire magic.

I noticed she was restraining herself to avoid hurting me _too much_ , and to avoid damaging the soul I was holding in the container. Fighting her was going to be useless – there was no way I'd be able to hold my own against the Queen of All Monsters, especially when I didn't have a weapon. I tried to face her, trying to endure the burning sensation her fire magic left all over me, and I took a decision.

 ***Mercy - Flee**

I was going to run away.

Simply going to a side wasn't an option. I balanced the container in my hand and rooted through my pocket, finding only one single object in there. "I'm sorry, Toriel, Lucia..." I muttered, throwing the firefly brooch at Toriel's face. The queen didn't expect this, she covered her face to defend herself, and I took that chance to run by her side, getting out of the dead end. I didn't bother picking up the brooch, once I LOADed I'd have it back – I hoped.

"Stop!" she commanded again, trying to grab me when I passed by her, I barely managed to avoid her claws. I could feel the heat emanating from her hand, I'm sure if she had actually touched me, she'd have seared me! But I got away. I ran through Waterfall, trying to find the quickest path to the Velvet Room door.

As if having Toriel pursuing me wasn't enough, I soon found out there were monsters milling around. I have no idea how they reacted to seeing a human pass by, holding a soul in his hands, with the queen hot in his trail. Well, I did hear a few things...

"Is that a human?"

"Another one?"

"I thought that child was the only one"

"Why's the Queen running behind him?"

"Someone catch him!" Toriel's voice boomed behind me. Spurred by that request, a few monsters tried to stop me, blocking the way. I didn't want to hurt anyone else, I glanced around, ignoring the quivering tower of jello and the seahorse that were getting in my way. Behind me, Toriel was getting closer, I could hear her steps.

"That's enough" she said, surprisingly cold despite the heated situation "You _will_ submit. Let's stop this ridiculous chase"

"You don't understand anything..." I said, looking around desperately. Behind me, the two monsters that had stopped me seemed to step back. I realized my only option was to go through them. When Toriel stepped forward, intending to grab me, I swiftly turned around and ducked my head, tackling the seahorse straight on.

It was like crashing against a stubborn door. It hurt, but at the same time it worked. The seahorse moved, short for breath, and I continued my way. I knew I was close, I had to be!

There it was. On the other side of a wide river. The water wasn't deep at all, I could cross it easily. I had barely gotten into the river, feeling how the water got up to my ankles, when a wall of fire coated the other shore. "No!" I shouted, frustrated, and looked back. Toriel was there, looking tired from having chased me through Waterfall.

"I'm growing weary of your refusal to cooperate, Syphus. This is your last chance" although the fire behind me didn't disappear, Toriel's hand cooled off, and she extended it forward. I kept staring at her palm, expecting a blast of fire to burn my eyebrows off or something like that.

"What's going to happen to me...?" I was so close to the Velvet Room; I could get there in a moment! But I needed a distraction, one last trick! I hid the container behind my body, trying to stall for time. "I don't trust you! What are you going to do?!" with a hand I started unscrewing the top of the container.

Torial narrowed her eyes. Had I made a mistake, acting like I was in condition to negotiate? The corner of my mouth twitched, I had to gather all my willpower to keep looking at her. "I will listen to you. I won't judge you for your actions – even though I should. For the time being you'll be kept in the Ruins, watched by the Royal Guard, until further arrangements are made"

"Arrangements...?"

"Are you so arrogant as to think you're above consequences?" she raised her voice, indignant "You will pay your dues, that much I can guarantee you!"

I had no doubt she meant every word of it. I shuffled on my feet, trying to get a hand into the container. "Fine. I-I accept. What do you want?"

"Surrender the soul. I don't care what you wanted it for – I cannot allow you to have such thing, especially since you obtained it through bloodshed" her voice was surprisingly cold for someone who had shown such warmth to me before. "That man must have trusted you. You have no reason to hold onto the soul of someone you betrayed"

I had no rebuttal. I knew she was right – and I didn't need a rebuttal, anyway. I took a deep breath, forced myself to look utterly indifferent to her orders, and looked down the river. It was as if time slowed down, I knew what to do. I showed the container, dropped it to the floor, and kicked it down the river with all my strength.

"How you dare?!" she looked conflicted for a second, but her love for Ciruel must have overcome her anger towards me, because she hurried to get the container. The wall of fire behind me fell apart, and I immediately ran past where it was, pretty much throwing myself against the Velvet Room door, with the purple soul in my hand.

I can only imagine Toriel's betrayed expression once she picked up the empty container. Or maybe she'd have been angrier instead of betrayed. I don't know. For the time being I was just glad I managed to enter a safe place.

Igor and Alphonse's expression made clear I wasn't being welcomed with open arms, though. Neither of them tried to shoo me away, but it was obvious they'd have preferred me to stay away – at least that was what Alphonse must have been thinking. Igor's face was as inscrutable as usual.

"Welcome" Igor said, bowing his head. It seemed things with him were like usual…at least when it was about fusing Personas. Alphonse kept glaring at me as if I had mocked their handyman uniform.

I extended my hands with the soul levitating just a few millimeters from them. "…could you please hold onto this for a few minutes?"

Alphonse leaned forward. "That's what I think it is, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is what you think it is. That's…" I felt sick again: "That's a human soul"

They closed their eyes, they looked like they wanted to say something about it but refrained from doing so. "Don't try to explain it, I know the whole story already" they said, rather bluntly "So you want us to hold it for you?"

"Please. I need to LOAD and have the soul back afterwards, and since this place is said to be separated from reality…"

"I get it. Fine, I'll hold onto this. I'm not happy about it, but I will" Alphonse carefully took the soul, holding it as if they were holding a very fragile chick. The soul pulsed, almost in contact with them, and I breathed with relief.

"Thank you. I'll go back outside for a moment" Talking to them about this matter would only get me a look that clearly said 'I despise you'. Deservedly, yes, but I had to focus on what I was doing. I left the Velvet Room and stood right outside.

The last thing I saw before I LOADed was Toriel approaching me, looking more furious than I remembered she had ever been in any timeline. I don't know what happens to…to 'me' when I LOAD, but if what happens is that I'm jumping to an alternate timeline instead of actually going back in time, well…

…I hope 'I' won't get too hurt. It's none of my business anymore, at least.

When I could move, just a few seconds later, I realized I was standing in the cave that led to the Hidden Village. The halberd was right to my side, the container was on the ground. The firefly brooch was in my pocket. Shuddering, I stepped away from the halberd. I wanted to go to the Velvet Room immediately, but I couldn't. I wanted to make sure Ciruel was okay now, that what I had done had been repaired.

It took him a minute to appear. Ciruel ascended the stairs and found me waiting there. "Syphus, you woke up early" he said, looking at me with no suspicion or ill-feelings. He seemed so normal, and he was talking with such friendly demeanor towards me I immediately looked away.

I couldn't bear looking at him at all.

"Are you okay? Do I have something on my face? Besides the purple paint and the antlers, I mean"

"No, it's okay. I just…" I pretended to be very interested in the rocky wall in front of me "It's nothing"

I don't know what Ciruel's expression was, but he sounded somewhat weirded out. "Alright…want to go to Snowdin with me? There's—"

"No, thank you. I'll be busy today"

There was a very uncomfortable silence. I kept staring at the rocks until Ciruel mumbled a 'I'll see you later, I guess' and left. Only when he was far away I sighed and dared to move from where I was.

It was true: my relationship with Ciruel had changed. I was pretty sure I wouldn't be able to look him to the face ever again.

I tried to ignore the growing feeling of guilt and grabbed the container and the halberd, finally starting my way towards the Velvet Room.

* * *

 **SOCIAL LINKS:**

 **Fool - Frisk - RANK 5**

 **Magician - Burgerpants - RANK 3**

 **Priestess - Alphys - RANK 4**

 **Empress - Toriel - RANK 2**

 **Emperor - Cohen - RANK 4**

 **Hierophant - Ciruel - BROKEN**

 **Lovers - ? - RANK 0**

 **Chariot - Ananas - RANK 5**

 **Justice - Undyne - RANK 4**

 **Hermit - Gaster - RANK 1**

 **Fortune - ? - RANK 0**

 **Strength - Celia - RANK 1**

 **Hanged Man - ? - RANK 0**

 **Death - Cornio - REVERSED**

 **Temperance - ? - RANK 0**

 **Devil - ? - RANK 0**

 **Tower - ? - RANK 0**

 **Star - Lucia - RANK 3**

 **Moon - ? - RANK 0**

 **Sun - Papyrus - RANK 3**

 **Judgment - Team - RANK 4**

 **Aeon - Syphus - REVERSED**

 **Jester - Alphonse - REVERSED**


	33. Alphys

I made sure the container was hidden from prying eyes, and knocked on the door of Alphys' laboratory. I had come all the way here trying to hide the container from any monster I encountered. Miraculously, it took only one try to get all the way here without being seen – if anyone had noticed the soul, I planned to LOAD, I had made a SAVE point once I had exited the Velvet Room with Ciruel's soul.

The look in Alphys' face when she opened the doors and found me holding the container with a human soul was indescribable. I'm pretty sure I heard a yelp and she closed the doors, fretting on the other side for a couple minutes. I can't blame her. Even though she gave me the container, I doubt she ever thought I'd bring a real human soul. She must have thought I'd, I don't know, use it to carry water or something.

"W-W-Where did you get that from?!" she screeched when she opened the doors again. Behind her I saw the television screens with the camera feeds was on, maybe she watched them trying to find out if everything was okay? Only then it dawned on me in that other timeline she would have seen Toriel pursue me with all that anger, and she'd have connected the dots as to why that'd be happening. I had to calm her down.

"A human fell into the Underground, right into the human village. He was too injured, he...he died"

"B-But I watched the camera just now, you had the empty container and then suddenly y-you had a soul..." Oh. Right. She wouldn't have noticed me entering the Velvet Room. To her the soul appeared in the container in the blink of an eye. Not knowing what to say, I just stared at her, hoping she'd drop the topic. "W-What's going on...does that have to do anything w-with the stuff you do with that brooch and the Shadows...?"

"Yeah. Yeah, that's it. I don't know how to even start explaining" Thank you for giving such a convenient explanation, Alphys! Even though I completely contradicted myself, she didn't press any further, she just nodded and gestured for me to give her the container.

"Let me take a look...I had never seen a human soul up-close b-before"

No harm in doing that...for a fleeting moment I thought she'd try to keep it away from me, but if I wanted Alphys' help, I had to trust her. I _did_ trust her, but I had to trust her more than I already did.

Alphys took the container very carefully and eyed the soul inside, examining it with expert eye. The soul pulsed, its purple color was shining. "It looks v-very healthy..."

"Is there something that could be done with it?" She looked up to me. Although her expression showed confusion, something in her eyes told me her mind was already trying to think what to do with the soul. I merely shrugged, playing with the firefly brooch and trying to sound as nonchalant as possible, as if I wasn't trying to lead her in a concrete direction. "You're the scientist here, I thought you'd know if something can be done with it"

"There may be something, but I don't know if I should...Undyne, you and those humans are working to break the Barrier, I wouldn't want to get in your way..."

I hurried to pounce on that chance. "Having another plan's never a bad idea. Who knows, yours may even break the Barrier faster!"

"It's not going to be fast, but it could be a start" she sounded somewhat more certain now, like talking about this gave her some confidence. She proceeded to explain to me a couple possible experiments with human souls, looking for a way to break the barrier by using one. She mentioned how human souls have Determination, and how she had thought about extracting some of that mysterious component to experiment with it. I managed to keep a straight face even though I knew the details "The problem is...we'd need a vessel to contain the monster SOULs, just one to start. We can't use a m-monster, so...the options were humans or something neither human nor monster..."

A shiver ran down my spine. "I really don't think shoving a bunch of monster SOULs into a human is a good idea" Humans couldn't absorb other human souls, but the mere _continuous proximity_ to dozens of human SOULs and all the Determination in them had made a human go insane in the timeline my master had come from. I didn't want to think what directly absorbing hundreds of monster SOULs could do to a human.

"Yes, I agree. I-I hadn't thought much further than that because there w-was no reason to delve into an experiment I wouldn't ever do because I had no human SOUL t-to experiment with, but...now I do so..." she clutched the container, staring grimly at the purple heart inside. Even though she really liked science, I could tell she wasn't enthused at all about doing any of this.

"How about a plant?"

"A plant?"

"Yeah, it's a living thing and it's neither human nor monster. It could be worth a try, right?"

She'd have thought of it, given a little bit of time, but I wanted to ensure what I wanted would happen – the sooner we got the experiments out of the way, the sooner I'd stop feeling like I was the scum of the earth. At least that's what I hoped.

Alphys nodded. "Yes, a plant could work. Perhaps an Echo Flower? Or a strand of ivy from the Ruins? There's also cactus here in Hotland—"

"I have been taking care of a golden flower since I arrived to the Underground" I lied. If I remembered correctly, Alphys had originally chosen the golden flower from the throne room because of its significance, not because it was fitting for the experiment in some way – and indeed, her thoughts had immediately gone for plants that were convenient. I had to force her to use that specific flower no matter what.

"Are you sure? I don't know what'd happen to it, and if you have an attachment to that flower, it could...not end well..." she looked nervously from side to side. Perhaps she felt the worst case scenarios weren't described properly with 'not end well'?

"It's just a flower, it's no big deal"

-ooooo-

Science needs so much preparation! I had never realized it until then.

When I returned, bringing the potted flower with Asriel's dust nurturing it, I found Alphys talking into a recorder about the experiments she wanted to make. In front of her, a small screen flashed several words. I waited until she was done. When I took the flower to her, she lightly touched the petals, examined the stem, until she nodded, satisfied. "It's healthy...I don't know much about botany, but it seems healthy enough for me. You have a green thumb, Syphus"

"So how are we going to do this?"

Alphys dug in a nearby pile of papers, extracting a dozen and passing them to me. Almost everything written in them was illegible, her handwriting left a lot to be desired. "First I'm going to fix the Determination extractor my predecessor left half-done..." she narrowed her eyes, deep in thought "I don't even remember his name...but th-that's what I'll do first. Once that's done, I'll extract D-Determination from the human soul and inject it into the flower. It may take days, weeks, maybe even months to see results"

"Months?!" _Can it really take that long?!_

"You have to understand this is the first time me or a-anyone will do something like this! I don't know how it'll go!"

She was right, I had to admit. It'd be unreasonable of me to expect quick results. I had no idea how long it'd take, but as long as it was during the next hundred days, it should be fine.

...I just hoped it'd work and Flowey would be created. I didn't want to think what I did could be all for naught.

Alphys and I descended into the laboratory, she talked all the while about what she knew about the Determination extractor, and how it worked. Terminology went through one ear and exited through the other, it felt like my head was filled of sawdust and steam. It was all very specialized – Alphys had an impressive amount of knowledge of engineering!

"...help me?"

"Uh? Sorry, come again?" I looked around. We were in a small room filled with blueprints. When had we gotten here?

"I asked if you knew about engineering enough to help me" she dug through the piles of blueprints "If you and I work together, we could progress through this experiment quicker. Not by much, but if we're in a hurry..."

I rubbed one of my eyes. I wanted to say I knew stuff, if it meant helping her, but if I screwed up something I'd ruin everything. Better be honest. "No. I _was_ into biology, not mechanics or anything like that"

Alphys seemed pleasantly surprised. "Really? I see! That's why you th-thought of a plant!"

"I guess...?" it felt like I was recalling something that had happened an eternity ago. I hadn't thought about biology or my former hopes and dreams for a very long time. "I was just a student, and I dropped out of college for...reasons. It's not like I'm a professional in biology"

"But this is good! If you know about biology you'd be more p-prepared than me to look after the flower once I inject the D-Determination into it" she extended the blueprints, examining the contents with expert eye, and nodded approvingly. When she turned to look at me, there was a spark of life in her eyes I hadn't seen ever before. "I'll need to keep the here for continuous monitoring, and you'll have to come every day to monitor it as well and make sure things are going smoothly enough"

She was serious...she wanted my help in the experiments, even though I wasn't a trained expert like her. Despite her reluctance to work on the human soul and experiment with Determination, when she read the blueprints and talked about the machine it felt like she was the happiest monster in the Underground. She'd be more than capable of handling everything by herself, yet she wanted me to lend a hand.

Alphys trusted me. **I felt my bond with her was getting stronger**.

-ooooo-

 **Day 25**

We didn't work for long. Most of what we did the day before was the 'preliminary preparation', as Alphys called it. It involved a lot of paperwork, and defining the parameters for the experiment. I tried to keep up with Alphys' astonishingly quick decisions. I think I managed to keep her pace, but it was exhausting.

She decided the first thing we had to do was set up the Determination extractor – surprising? No, not at all. What did surprise me is how heavy the pieces of that machine were. I had supposed I'd need to do some physical effort, but it required much more than I thought it would. The problem was that neither Alphys nor I were...we weren't shining examples of physical prowess. Alphys was lacking a lot of muscle and, although I had been swinging a halberd for two weeks, it hadn't been enough to build any strength. I knew Alphys could set the extractor up by herself, and with my help we'd be able to do it faster, but it'd still take a long time.

We needed someone strong.

Alphys slurped some ramen, she was eating it with chopsticks. We were sitting on the couch, I had an open container of ramen in my hands. To my side Alphys was relaxed, watching the anime with a lot of attention. I still wasn't hooked in that strange show – I suppose I'll never understand anime. "I-I think we have two options" she said.

"Yeah?"

Alphys waved a chopstick around, without even looking away from the screen. "We could ask the king for help. A-Asgore would help us...but I'm not sure about it. He'd want to know where we got a human soul from..."

That'd be difficult to explain. I poked my ramen, biting my tongue for a second. "That'd be tough to explain...let's avoid that. What's the other option?"

"We could ask Undyne..."

I admit I was surprised. In this timeline where she had nothing to hide from Undyne, she was willing to ask for her help...most likely because Undyne knew about the humans. I wasn't happy about having to explain it to Undyne how there was a human soul here, but if I had to choose between showing a human soul to the King of All Monsters or to the friend I was starting to trust, I'd definitely choose the latter. "If there's no more option...I have no idea what I'm going to tell Undyne, though. She'll want all sorts of details, and I don't have time to think an elaborate story"

Alphys finally looked away from the anime. She clicked her claws together, looking as if she was preparing herself to say something she didn't want to say. "...she wouldn't have to know about th-the soul..."

"What do you mean?"

"...I don't want to th-think about it, b-but...uh, one of...the easiest way to lie is to...just n-not say a-anything" her stutter had returned with a vengeance. She sounded like she was already feeling guilty about it. "I hate to abuse of her trust like this, but...we may have to do it"

It was an option. I was confident if we really needed to we'd be able to stay silent about this, but I wished there were other ways other than piling more secrets all over. Unfortunately, we were unable to think any other options that didn't involve not telling Undyne about the human soul. Once we agreed Alphys would hide the soul and I'd be the one to try to convince Undyne to help us build the Determination extractor, I left the laboratory, going to the Royal Guard headquarters.

It wasn't too difficult to convince Undyne to help. I had barely said it was to help Alphys with an experiment Undyne stood up, the deck almost tilting over from how fast she moved. "I'm in"

Working with Undyne and Alphys was nice. My arms ached trying to lift the large metal pieces, Undyne kept lifting them as if they were sheets of paper. Alphys, who didn't lift anything once we started, did most of the work inside the machine, connecting the wires and welding the pieces we placed.

"Over here! Move this plate a bit to the left"

"Where are the screws? Syphus, wh-where did you put them?"

"Can you hold me up there for a moment, Undyne?"

She sounded happy. The mood was light; it didn't feel like we were doing exhausting physical work. Alphys kept moving like a hardworking ant, pointing and giving us careful instructions. She sounded confident, she knew exactly what she was doing and her instructions were concise and easy to follow, even though neither Undyne nor I had experience with this kind of machines.

"Done!" Undyne shook the rust and dust off her hands, stepping back to admire our work. I did the same, a tad puzzled. I already knew how the extractor looked like, but it didn't make it any prettier. What was up with that design?

"It's not a nice s-sight, right?" Alphys smiled sheepishly "I have no idea why my predecessor made it like this"

"It looks like some kinda skull..." Undyne looked at it with a bit of disgust.

"I think he had some sort of bone motif? I don't remember..."

"Whatever. What's important is that it's finished" I said.

Undyne scratched a bit of rust off. "What's this thing for, anyway? Alphys?"

"Oh! Uh...about that..." she looked away "It's for science stuff. It's hard t-to explain, but if you want to sit and—" it was kind of obvious to me she wanted to stall for time to think of a plausible story, but luckily Undyne shook her head.

"I'd love to listen to it but I'm sure most of that would fly right over my head" she waved a hand. I sighed with relief behind her back, glad Alphys didn't have to pile more lies upon the already shaky bunch we had made so far. Alphys hurried to leave the laboratory with the excuse to go bring some soda for all of us, leaving Undyne and me to wait beside the extractor.

I approached the extractor, examining the thick cords. How did this thing work? I hoped the soul wouldn't be damaged at all from whatever this machine would do to it. I was so focused on the machine I didn't notice Undyne had approached me until she put a hand on my shoulder, gently making me turn around. For a moment I thought I had done something wrong just now and she was going to scold me, but when I saw her face I noticed she was happy.

"Hey, Syphus, was any of this your idea?"

"What do you mean?"

"It's the first time I see Alphys make something like this. I know it's her job, but I don't remember the last time she worked in a project with so much enthusiasm"

Oh. Of course. "No, this is her idea. I'm just helping her, it's all her"

Undyne seemed to get even happier when she heard that. She positively glowed with pride for Alphys. "Now this is the Alphys I know, getting fired up about work! It's good to see her like this again – you wouldn't guess, but when I talk with her about stuff she gets passionate about everything! She gets into everything with dedication, one-hundred percent! Lately she was kinda in a slump, but you helped her, right?"

"I didn't do much. She's doing this on her own"

"Come on, don't underestimate yourself. You have been supporting her" she looked towards the hallway that led to the elevator. Was she making sure Alphys wasn't coming back yet? "I know you fought her Shadow. You must have seen stuff about her she wouldn't have shown you otherwise. Alphys is not the kind of person that opens up, if there was something bothering her you wouldn't have known, but her heart forced you to see whatever her Shadow said.

But you kept talking to her. I dunno what you saw, but whatever it was didn't push you away. Even though you saw a side of her she didn't want you to see, you kept supporting her and now look at this! She asked for our help! She's doing her best!"

Was it really that amazing? It was natural to want to befriend Alphys, what I saw in her soul made me want to support her. "It was nothing"

She had an expression of gratitude, so sincere and earnest it warmed my heart. "I just wanted to thank you. You're helping someone who is very important to me. Thanks for taking care of Alphys.

I'm glad you got her back no matter what"

 **I could feel Undyne's appreciation towards me**. It was undeserved...but it was also nice.

Undyne stretched, twisting her back and taking deep breaths. "You know, I have to return the favor. Just like you're helping someone important to me, I'll help someone who is important to you. I know! The other humans, I'll help them. Where's the village?"

"The—ah. I don't think I should..." I started saying before I even realized what I was implying, and Undyne immediately caught onto what was on my mind. She looked resigned.

"Yeah...guess you don't trust me to be among the humans yet"

"That's not what I meant" I said half-heartedly. That was exactly what I thought, but it sounded so callous I didn't know how to soften the blow. After what she did last time she got into the village I just couldn't reveal the location, even if now I was certain she wouldn't take anyone's soul. I just couldn't forget how she and the other guards had pretty much killed all of us.

"No, I get it. I can't blame you, don't worry about that" she said "I have to earn you and the others' trust first, and that's exactly what I'm going to do"

"How?"

"I don't mean to offend you or the others, but you're all a bunch of wimps. Look at yourself, you looked like you were going to drop all those metal pieces on your own feet when we were working. So to make you all a bit less wimpy, I'll see what I can do" she said, crossing her arms. "With some luck they won't be too busy to continue the training, like someone whose name I won't mention"

How subtle of you, Undyne. Thanks for the shade. I agreed to call her when Cohen and Annie would be available. I didn't want to tell her the location of the village without consulting my teammates about it, and this should help them be closer friends. There were no downsides, as far as I could see.

-ooooo-

 **Day 31**

Alphys placed the container with the human soul in front of the extractor and moved to the control panel, pressing the 'on' button. I shuddered a bit when a thick needle emerged from the machine, slowly advancing towards the floating heart. The needle pierced through the top of the container, touching the soul very slightly. "Now we'll proceed with the extraction" Alphys said, reading with attention several numbers on the panel. The eye-like containers on top of the machine had a slight purple glow, drop after drop leaked into the containers so slowly it seemed like it'd take an eternity to fill.

"This looks like the kind of thing you have to be very careful with" I was pretty sure if that needle had been just a millimeter closer to the soul, something bad would have happened. Alphys nodded, focused on her task. Only when the containers looked full enough, she turned off the machine, the needle retracted into the machine. Alphys pressed a couple buttons and received a couple vials filled with a shimmering liquid, she lifted one to look at it through the dim lights of the laboratory.

"It worked. I almost can't believe the machine worked!"

"...you thought it wouldn't?"

"It's not that I thought the extractor had flaws, it's that...I wasn't s-sure I'd be able to complete it" she shook her head "It's the first time in a long while that I have been doing something so complicated. Now that I think about it, this is my first real experiment since I was named Royal Scientist"

"Really? Your _first_ experiment?"

"I did have a few theories I wanted to test, but I never tried them. I always thought if I did I'd screw up"

I felt a pang of discomfort. _I better not say a word about that._ Alphys and I worked in silence, she had to fill a lot of sheets and information about the Determination she extracted and about the subject she'd be injecting it into – the flower. I examined every inch of the flower, noting anything that looked like there were any imperfections, looking for anything that could be a problem for the experiment. I was extremely careful with that. Even if I thought the odds of the experiment going smoothly were high given the, uh, _precedent_ , I didn't want to take risks.

"Hold it carefully" Alphys instructed. I grabbed the flowerpot with a hand and carefully lifted the flower with the other until it was extended up to full height. Alphys made sure the syringe filled with Determination was ready, and examined the stem of the flower, looking for the best point to aim at. Once she found it, she carefully inserted the needle of the syringe and emptied it inside. I knew the effects wouldn't be immediate, but I kept expecting the flower to turn alive and start writhing in my hand. A few seconds passed, she nodded. "This phase of th-the experiment is over. N-Now we'll have to pay close attention to the flower for some time and watch out for a-any changes"

"How long?"

"Let's give it a month. If nothing changes b-before thirty days, we'll reconsider our stance on this experiment and if we should continue. N-Not that I'll throw away the flower" she started filling out more paperwork. I didn't know science had so much...administrative stuff in them. "I, um, I'm a bit surprised you a-accepted to spend so much time watching th-the flower...are you sure you don't have anything better to do?"

"Nothing at all until we have to rescue someone else"

"That's...a bit sad...not that I can say I have a lot o-of stuff to do other than being here..." she frowned "The number of times I have left the lab during the l-last couple years can be counted in one hand..."

That seemed to me like a weird thing to bring up. I leaned against the table, flicking one of the leave of the flower with a finger. "Why's that?"

Alphys stopped writing, staring at the paper with conflicted expression. She shook her head, trying to clear it. "N-N-Nevermind. Besides, it's not like I have many f-friends...I have never been a gregarious person" she looked up "I g-grew up not too far away from the capital, here in Hotland. Since it's warm i-in here I like it because...you know, cold-blooded monster...anyway, I had only two friends. Do you know Bratty and Catty?"

"Nope. Who are they?"

"Just some old friends. We grew in the same area of Hotland, so we m-met and played together. Th-They used to take me shopping, sometimes I took them to the g-garbage dump to look for neat s-stuff" Alphys smiled nostalgically "I know it sounds weird, b-but it was fun to look for treasure in the trash with them. I th-think they liked it too"

I hid my mouth behind the flower so she wouldn't see the smile I was sure was trying to fill my face. "We should all search for stuff in the garbage dump once this all is over" the silence that followed what I thought was a harmless suggestion indicated me I may have made a faux pas. Had I touched a sore point? I looked up from examining the soil, Alphys was staring blankly at the clipboard she had in her hands. "Oh...sorry, did I—"

"N-No, it's nothing. I just...would like to not see th-them for a while longer" she said quietly. Had something happened between them at some point in the past and I didn't know? I grabbed the flowerpot and moved the subject to the tables in the hall with the mirrors, placing it carefully there. On the ceiling there were many lights, I hoped they'd be enough to keep the flower alive. They _should_ be enough. Right?

"...why do you trust me with this?" Alphys asked out of the blue. When I looked at her inquisitively she pointed at her clipboard where she had a lot of notes about the experiment. "With...this whole th-thing, I mean"

"You're the scientist, this is something I couldn't ever do myself"

Apparently that wasn't the right answer at all, because Alphys cringed and looked down. "Ah...alright..." I realized too late why she was asking: she was looking for reassurance. Telling her I was here simply because she was the Royal Scientist and therefore has the laboratory and technology I needed was like telling her she was only a means to an end. I hurried to correct myself – and what I was going to say wasn't a lie.

"More importantly than that, I trust you"

"You...trust me?" she looked up. I nodded with conviction.

"You're capable, you're passionate, I know I can rely on you" I said "Alphys, you have helped me so much. Not only you have made two dozen different weapons for the team, you also are working on how to shatter the Barrier with the materials we bring. You're working so hard, and we'd be nowhere without you" I approached her, making sure to sound absolutely sincere "You're smart and you know what you're doing! Even if I had the right machines, I bet I'd screw up without your help! I..."

"Yes?" she was staring at me like she couldn't believe everything I was saying.

"...I owe you a lot, and someday I'll repay you, I swear. I don't know what I'd be doing without your support"

Was that better? I hoped so. Alphys seemed happier, she looked at me with gratefulness. "Thank you. I think I really needed t-to hear that"

"Of course" **I felt the bond between Alphys and I was getting stronger.**

-ooooo-

 **Day 32**

I didn't know how long it'd take for Flowey to exist. Alphys had injected the determination into the flower, so I knew it was matter of time before he was...alive...

The problem was that not knowing when exactly it'd happen made me pretty nervous. I couldn't stay at Alphys' laboratory 24/7. I had to return to the village sometimes, I had to go to work at the headquarters, there were a lot of things I needed to do. Alphys had said she'd take care of 'the subject' while I wasn't at the laboratory, but I wanted to be there for as long as possible.

I couldn't stop thinking about Ciruel, though. When I returned to the village last night I stumbled upon him. He greeted me, I returned the greeting and hurried to walk into Cohen's cabin. Even though many days had passed since I had attacked Ciruel and undid it, I still couldn't face him.

Today I had been staring at the cottage that was being built for me, noting how much it had progressed, when Byssa approached me, pushing Celia on her wheelchair. "Good morning, Syphus"

"Good morning"

"Is there something wrong?" Byssa asked. I hesitated for a moment and shook my head – I didn't really trust Byssa. From the six humans, she was the one I liked the least. I knew she had tried to kill Asriel in our original timeline.

...that's me being a hypocrite. My lips curled in disgust, I was upset with myself.

"If you say so..."

"Can you leave me here for a moment?" Celia looked up. Byssa shrugged and nodded, pushing the wheelchair towards me.

"Grandma wants to talk with you for a while. Please take her back to her cottage once you're done, alright?" she looked at me with a glare that clearly warned me to be careful with Celia. Had Byssa always been so protective of her?

Once Byssa went away Celia put her hand on mine, holding it comfortingly. "You can't fool me. There's something eating you inside, right?" I frowned. "You can trust me. If there's one good thing about living for as long as I have is that I'm a good listener. I won't judge"

Something about her voice made me believe her when she said she wouldn't judge.

Maybe...telling a little bit would help, I thought. I looked around, making sure nobody was nearby, and asked the question I had in mind for a long while already.

"What do you do if you betrayed someone's trust badly?"

Celia's expression darkened. Her eyes clouded, for a moment I feared I had said just the wrong thing. She didn't pull away her hand or try to get away, she just asked: "What do you mean?"

"I once did something bad. I hurt a person and now I regret it, and I wish I could make amends but...but I can't, I literally can't" Hard to make amends for something when technically it never happened. I _could_ tell Ciruel but all that'd happen is that he'd think I'm crazy.

"Because they're on the surface?"

"...yeah, that's it" I lied, taking the convenient explanation.

Celia patted my hand in what I interpreted as a comforting gesture. "That's a problem. In my own experience I can tell you if you truly regret it you won't reach peace until you talk to them. If you can't, then there's not much you can do other than swallow your regrets and wait for the moment you can apologize"

That sounded graver than I expected. "Would that really work?"

"...no, maybe it wouldn't. Sometimes your regrets are so heavy even making amends won't relieve them. In that case there's nothing you can do other than carry that cross with you for the rest of your life" she stared absently at my almost-finished cottage "The problem is that if you're the type to feel strong regret, then you're also the type to hold onto it if your apology doesn't go well. You're doomed"

"That's a bit too negative for my tastes" I replied.

"It may be, but what else can I tell you?" she looked up at me "I don't want you to raise your hopes unnecessarily. It's for your own good. Take it from me, I'm your elder, after all"

We were silent for a while, just staring at my cottage. There was this constant miasma of resignation and subtle despair all over Celia I didn't know how to deal with. I still remembered all her comments from when I met her a few days ago, and what she had just said didn't really help me think she was okay. Besides, she had just said something... "Celia, what did you mean with 'from my own experience'?"

"...it means what you think it means: I have done things I'm not proud of" she admitted quietly.

"You? I have kind of a hard time believing that"

Celia chuckled. "How kind of you. I wasn't always on this wheelchair, you know. When I was...how old are you?" I replied I was twenty-six. That was the age my body showed, I couldn't tell the truth "When I was younger than you I did some stuff I now regret"

"And apologizing didn't help" if that also was from her own experience...

"It didn't. Anyway, this wheelchair is my punishment" she hit one of the wheels with her fingers "I don't mean the object, I mean what it represents: I'm a useless burden of a person who can't even move by herself. It's just punishment for my actions. Maybe I wouldn't mind it if it didn't mean other people have to deal with it too"

"Why, what did you do?"

Celia shook her head. "I don't want to talk about it"

Then why to tell me all that? It felt to me like she was teasing me, dangling in front of my face information I'd want to know and then yanking it away at the last moment. Some of my frustration must have showed in my face because she smiled, a bit pitiful. "What?" I asked, exasperated.

"I know what you may be thinking. I have to be honest with you: you are the only person I feel I can talk with" she looked up at the rocky ceiling above us "You're the only adult that has fallen down here, and when I look at the rest all I can see is the children they were at first. Maybe that's how Toriel feels...when you're old, everyone else seems like a kid to you. But _you_ , you're different.

I believe you're the one who'd understand better than anyone else, just because you lived on the surface for longer than I did"

Oh if she knew the truth...still, **I felt I was bonding with Celia**. She was reluctant to talk to me about her inner demons right now, but maybe in the future she would.

-ooooo-

 **Day 40**

It had been almost three weeks since the last time we did anything that could further our goal of breaking the Barrier. Almost three weeks since my master's influence over me stopped. I was absolutely certain those two facts were related to each other; no way they weren't. I started to get worried – we only had two months, 120 days to achieve the goal, but we lost twenty days already. More than a fourth of the time we had was gone, and although we made a lot of progress in just twenty days by obtaining five pieces of the twelve we need, now I realized that may have been mere good luck.

The rest of the team had been wondering what was wrong. Cohen talked to me the other day, trying to gauge if I had heard something. Undyne said she hadn't heard of anyone falling down – no surprise there – and said she was getting antsy about continuing life as normal. Ananas was taking things well, playing with Monster Kid every day at the village, although I was kind of worried she'd start pressing Cohen again like she used to do before she joined the team.

I also heard about Frisk. For some reason it was taking them ages to go through Hotland. Alphys said they had been wandering around aimlessly, not even trying to approach the MTT Resort. I had tried to talk with them, but they were rather evasive. They still stayed with Sans and Papyrus at Snowdin, enjoying a peaceful existence among the rather friendly monsters of that town. They all had gotten used to the human child, and by now everyone in the Underground knew Frisk was there.

It felt like every monster in the Underground was waiting for something to happen, for the king to take a decision as to what to do with the human child living in Snowdin. Thanks to my assistant position in the Royal Guard, I was able to hear a few opinions. The majority was willing to accept Asgore's decisions and spare the child if he wanted, and had decided to give him some time to think, but from time to time I heard how they couldn't keep waiting forever. Did that mean they'd take the matter in their own hands? A worryingly small minority wanted to let the child live there in Snowdin in peace, let them be welcome into the community, and...a rather vocal group of monsters were demanding Asgore to direct the Royal Guard to take the child's SOUL. It was a necessary evil, they said, as king he had to make sure to do what was best for his people, they said. I never found what Asgore thought about such demands.

Maybe that was why Frisk hadsn't advanced further than Hotland, because of how unusually close monsterkind as a whole were keeping tabs on him

Alphys and I had the experiment to keep us busy. We observed that flower for days, writing down so much data every hour. Most of the data was the same, but Alphys insisted that was how scientific studies needed to be done. "One of my teachers at college u-used to say science doesn't rush"

"I know, I know. This is why I'm not made for science" I consider myself a patient man, but it's kind of frustrating when you don't see any progress. I wrote the current height of the flower, down to the millimeters. The number hadn't changed ever since I brought the flower here for the first time. "Did you always know you'd be a scientist?"

Alphys smiled fondly. "I always liked science, but I studied e-engineering. I don't mean to brag, but I-I have skills in that field" In my opinion she should brag about it – she's quite skillful, if you ask me.

"That's why you're the Royal Scientist, then?"

I asked that without even thinking. I had been too busy measuring the flower's petals my mind was going in auto-pilot. When I realized what I had just asked, I looked up, finding Alphys with contemplative expression. Before I could apologize or change the topic, Alphys put aside the notes she had been reading, and shrugged, a bit sadly.

"Y-Yes, you could say that..." she hesitated, her hands shaking a bit, and wiped off some sweat off her brow. "I...I want to tell y-you something about that. Do y-you have a moment?"

I glanced at the flower. Flowey wouldn't come to life right when I was talking with Alphys, right? Just in case, I SAVEd and followed her on the elevator. Once we were sitting on the couch, in front of her many anime figurines, she started talking.

"You...You have heard of Mettaton, right?"

"Everyone in the Underground has heard of him"

"Okay, uh, so he's an entertainer and very famous, and I made him. Maybe you have heard he's a robot with a soul. And he is, he does have a soul! It's just that...uuuuuh..." she seemed to be gathering all of her courage "Syphus, can I trust y-you? Can you promise m-me you're not going to t-tell anyone this?"

"Of course, I promise"

"Not even to Undyne or any of our friends, I—please don't tell anyone"

"I won't" I was as sincere as I could. Alphys and I got along pretty well, but she was opening her heart to me, telling me stuff not even Undyne knew. I had a feeling she was telling me this only because I had seen her Shadow. I had met the parts of her psyche she had kept suppressed, I already had seen her at her most vulnerable. If it hadn't been for that, I doubt she'd even think of telling me.

"...so Mettaton is...he does have a soul! It's...it's just that...it's...a monster soul?" I said nothing, waiting for her to continue. "B-But not like I made a monster soul and put it in him! It's more like it's...it'saghostmonsterpossessingashellImadeandmakingitmoveandlivinghislifeandthat'sthegistofit"

I blinked. She said that so fast I couldn't understand many of those words, but from the few I did understand I pieced together what she had just tried to say. "...oh. That's nothing to be embarrassed about, I'm sure nobody else other than you would have been able to make a good shell for a ghost to possess"

Alphys was grateful for what I said, but she didn't seem convinced. "Ghosts can ta-take anything they like as th-their bodies. Even a dummy from the garbage dump would be e-enough, what I made isn't that amazing. K-King Asgore thought it was, and that's how I got this job" she joined her hands, contrite "He thought I had created a soul...he s-said I would help save monsterkind. He was looking at me with such kindness and high hopes for me I...I couldn't bring myself t-to tell him I didn't think I'd be capable of anything like that"

She paused, touching the head of one of her figurines. I didn't interrupt her train of thought – it seemed to me like she needed some time to get her thoughts in order. "At first I thought maybe I c-could do it" she said "I thought maybe I'd be able to think a-an idea or a plan. I had ideas for an e-experiment or two, but they'd have been impossible to make. I think y-you understand why"

"You didn't have a human soul to work on"

"It wasn't that same problem, but it was similar: I-I'd have needed rare stuff" Alphys nodded "The king left me work in any way I wanted, he just called s-sometimes to ask how I was doing. I...I liked those calls. It felt like he truly cared about me. I wasn't just the Ro-Royal Scientist; he was making sure I was okay because that was the r-right thing to do. Even when I had n-nothing to report, he understood. He always told me to take my time"

Alphys grimaced. "It made me feel very pressured. I-I thought someday he'd run out of patience and then I'd be fired. What use is a Royal Scientist w-who can't do anything...? I didn't want to disappoint him. I wanted to avoid disappointing anyone, I just—I just wanted t-to be of help!" she accidentally bent one of the cheap figurines forward. There was a deep sorrow in her eyes, the weight of her insecurities had imprisoned her since long ago, and now that she was talking about it, she was telling just how badly the king's expectations and her own expectations had affected her. "I can't do anything, I'm just a liar. I don't know what I'm doing, but you, you, Undyne and the humans, you're the ones who'll shatter the Barrier"

"You're vital for our team" I said, encouraging, but Alphys wasn't encouraged at all.

"I just craft weapons with what you bring me. I don't think me being the Royal Scientist has anything to do with that.

I didn't have any counter to that. Her negativity was almost contagious; I was starting to feel rather bummed out myself. I sighed, at a loss for words. She broke the silence by digging deeper into all her problems: "Do you know what my predecessors did?"

"What did they do?"

"The one right before me cre-created the CORE. It changed so many things about how we live here in the Underground, it was an a-amazing invention!" her eyes light up while she described the CORE "The way it takes the energy of the core of the planet a-and converts it into magic electricity...it's amazing! And before him there was the woman w-who made all those theories about magical food, and before her there was someone w-who tried to find out if humans could do magic. Everyone d-did some great things, that's why the p-position of Royal Scientist is so important"

Alphys took one of the figurines and swiveled the head and arms around, just to keep her hands busy with something while trying to find the right words to continue. "...and then there's me. Compared to them I'm no scientist. A-all...All I have d-done is...lie to everyone. I lied to the king, I l-lied to Undyne, I...I'm o-only good for lying.

I know I don't deserve to be the Royal Scientist...a-and I don't know h-how to get out of this. I-I'm trapped."

I just sat there, staring at her claws and trying to process everything she was saying. The person here I knew was a competent scientist on her own right, who undeniably had skills and the knowledge, but felt like she didn't deserve to be where she was. Her insecurities were so ingrained, so based on what she knew had snowballed from making Mettaton's body into her position as the Royal Scientist, I didn't even know what to say. I could remember a lot of things I had never seen before, my head was full of memories of what Alphys had done during the same length of time in countless timelines, but in none of them she had said something like this to anyone. I was at a complete loss of what'd be the right thing to say. All I knew was that I wanted to support her.

She kept going, as if she was talking to herself. "I-I have thought about quitting, and sometimes I want to run away. Th-there must be someone else who'd do a better job than me, b-but I'm...I'm scared about having to admit I lied. I don't want to d-disappoint everybody, if I quit, that'll happen, and i-if I keep being the Royal Scientist, that'll happen _later_. It's like I can't win, right?"

"When you put it like that it does sound like inescapable fate"

"I know. That's just how I feel. What do you think I should do?"

Great, now the spotlight was on me. What was I supposed to say? "I don't think I can give you a good answer"

"B-But I don't know what I can do! If you don't tell me I'll...I'll just do nothing. I can't even trust myself to take a decision"

"Then that may be what you need to work on first, on trying to trust your own decisions"

"A-And how am I s-supposed to do that part?"

"What do you want me to say? It's nothing I can help you with" I said that immediately, feeling pressured, but I had to say something else, if only to encourage Alphys. "But remember you have us. True, we your friends may not be happy to find out if you did anything improper, but we are your friends, and you also have Undyne on your side. You have people to support you on your decisions"

Sounded like empty platitudes to me. Pretty generic, if you ask me, but it was the best I could do under pressure. Still, Alphys seemed to feel somewhat better – although part of me thought it was because of how awkwardly I said it, not because I had said anything particularly encouraging or useful.

"Yes...I know I do. I'm sorry this experiment's taking so long, but in a way I'm glad I'm doing it" she admitted "I'm thankful you were willing to give me a chance to help"

 _...she's not going to be happy once the flower goes missing._ I forced myself to smile. Alphys definitely wasn't the only person capable of deceiving, and for a moment I felt what she must have felt for so long, the feeling of lying to someone and not being able to tell them the truth It felt like having a knot in your throat, like you want to say it but something has your chest in a vice and you can't spit out the truth.

"Of course" I said. Despite everything, **I felt she was growing to trust me more than I thought she ever would**.

-ooooo-

 **Day 42**

It happened so suddenly I can't avoid wondering how it'd have gone if Alphys had been around instead of me.

It was rather subtle, I almost missed it. I was carefully adjusting one of the lights above the flower, making sure it wasn't too bright, when the flower twitched. For a moment I thought that had been just my imagination, but I judged I shouldn't chalk anything up to my imagination and do nothing. My concern was justified once I examined the flower.

The flower was strangely warm, and I was sure it wasn't because of the light overhead. I poked the stem of the flower, getting no reaction, but the warmness was enough for me to think something was going on. The face of the flower was blank, no eyes, no mouth...instinctively I stepped back, like I expected him to suddenly pop out and scare me. Nothing happened.

 _What should I do?_ Telling Alphys was out of the question. Leaving the flower there to follow its course and turn into Flowey was another option, but I didn't know what he'd do, or where he'd go. I had to keep an eye on him somehow, but doing that here in the Alphys' lab may not have been ideal.

Maybe being able to go back in time was making me reckless, because my decision was to take the flowerpot and carry the plant out of the laboratory once I made sure to SAVE! Alphys was nowhere to be seen, she had gone to the garbage dump. As soon as I left the laboratory I went to the nearby river and arranged a ride in a boat to as close to the Ruins as possible.

Call it corny, but I felt it'd be appropriate if Flowey came to life in that secluded place in the Ruins.

No monster I found along the way paid attention to me, even though I suppose it's unusual to see a monster hurrying through the Ruins with a flowerpot. I even was lucky to not encounter a guard near the steel fence. I passed the flowerpot through the steel bars and climbed the fence, soon reaching the glade-like part of the cavern where Frisk usually met Flowey for the first time.

"Here we go..." I murmured, placing the flowerpot on the ground carefully. There was no reply, as expected, so I got on my knees and started working. I dug my fingers into the soil, moving the grass and digging until my fingers were sore. I made a hole several inches deep, the wet soil moved easily. With as much care as I could have with my inexperienced hands, I lifted the golden flower and placed it right in the center of the hole, carefully moving the earth until it covered the flower's roots. "Yes, that's it..." I kept the stem standing up until I was sure the flower wasn't going to tumble over, and I let go with trembling fingers.

The flower stayed there, upright. I slumped my shoulders, glad I hadn't screwed up.

I had still been staring at the flower when the cellphone in my pocked sounded. I took it out of my pocket, it was the one Cohen had given me to use. I didn't recognize the number, but I answered anyway. "Yes?"

"Th-The flower is gone! Syphus, the flo—the flower is gone!" Alphys' worried voice sounded from the other end of the line.

"...oh. Really?" I don't think I sounded convincing in my feigned surprise, but Alphys was panicking too much to notice.

"D-Do you know anything about it? I-I thought you'd be here! Where are you?"

I stood up, thinking fast. "Annie called me and said we needed to talk urgently. She thought someone from the village had fallen down, but it was just a misunderstanding"

"Oh. I-I see. That's—that's fine..." she seemed to have believed my lie, hook line and sinker. I didn't feel exactly proud of this. "I-I'll look for the flower! Don't w-worry, I'll find it!"

"I'm counting on you" I said, she hung up in a hurry. Feeling how a heavy weight settled into the pit of my stomach, I tried to ignore the growing guilt and sighed between my teeth, staring at the cellphone. "I'll have to make it up to her" I mumbled.

Another person for that particular list.


	34. Manipulative

What bothered me the most was that I had no way to know for sure when exactly Flowey would start existing. It could have happened two minutes after I returned to the Ruins, it could be one hour later, it could be in the middle of the night while I slept, it could be tomorrow, in three days or the end of the week...and it wasn't like I could stay in that remote place of this cave and watch the flower all the time. That'd be pathetic. Frankly, I already felt I was being pathetic to some extent by making Flowey exist, and I refused to fall any deeper into the already deep pit I had gotten myself into.

All I could do was leave the flower there and hope it'd go okay. It was too late to take a step back and consider this may be a mistake. My emotions had clouded my judgment, and only now I was starting to realize it.

-ooooo-

The next day I had returned to the Ruins. The flower was gone. I waited around to see if anything would happen, if Flowey would appear, try to deceive me or just try to find out about the most abnormal situation in the Underground given all the changes there were compared to all the other timelines, but nothing happened. I supposed he had gone somewhere else, that he was trying to find Frisk or something like that, and that I'd hear about him sooner or later. No big deal, I thought, I could just wait and see what happened.

Days passed. I never made another SAVE point, the only one I had was right when I left the flower in the Ruins. I spent all these days just...living a normal life, to some extent, and waiting. I even got careless with my social links, not trying to deepen them.

Only when I heard the rumors about Asgore turning strangely reclusive I realized what was going on. The last time someone saw Asgore was when he was getting storybooks from the Snowdin librarby. He was spending a lot of time in the castle, and 023 once said he had heard him talk to someone in the throne room, but when he entered he saw no one except the king. I tried to see Asgore, but the Castle was closed, and very few monsters could enter. The last time it was open was a couple weeks before that day.

Puzzled, I LOADed.

The same thing happened again. I was convinced it must have been Flowey, he must had gotten to Asgore and was talking to him. I could only imagine what he was telling him, how he was trying to manipulate him. Since I was at New Home almost every day, I took the time to go to the castle. It was sneaky to spy on Asgore like that. Just like 023 had said before, Asgore was in the throne room, talking with someone. 023 had entered, and Flowey had hid, so I didn't announce my presence, I just listened from the entrance.

"...you could even call it a miracle!" that was unmistakably Asgore's voice. His deep voice was full of barely concealed joy.

"I'm not sure I would..." that was Flowey's voice. In contrast, Flowey's voice sounded...I wouldn't say depressed, but it felt like it lacked genuine emotion behind it. It was nothing like the almost exaggerated friendliness I had expected to hear from him. Unsure I understood the situation, I crouched, grabbed the edge of the entrance and inched forward, just enough to see what was going on in there.

The king was sitting in middle of the golden flowers, near the throne. To his side there was a small table, with a tray and a teapot. Even from my vantage point, I could see a certain happiness I didn't remember having ever seen. It was the face of someone who had been relieved of something very heavy.

In front of him was Flowey. His stem was bent over forward, he looked rather miserable. I couldn't see his face. The momentary happiness I felt at seeing it had all worked was quashed, I didn't want to accidentally alert them. Trying to strain my ears to hear better, I leaned forward a bit.

"You have been very gloomy ever since you arrived, my son" _My son?_ Did Asgore know...? "I'm aware your current state is hard to accept, so if there's anything I can do to make it easier—"

"No, it's not that. It's not about accepting this, it's just that..." he went silent for a moment. When he looked up, he had what I interpreted as a genuine expression of confusion, but there was something odd about it – it seemed empty, like even though Flowey was truly confused, I had the impression there was nothing other than confusion. No sadness, no anger, no apparent wish to return to normal...just confusion.

Maybe it was just my imagination since I knew about Flowey's lack of soul, because Asgore didn't notice anything. He tried to be as supportive as possible, in vain. It took a while before Flowey said something:

"Where's Mom?"

"Tori is..." Asgore took a deep breath, standing up with some difficulty "Your mother lives at the Ruins for the time being. She's watching over that part of the Underground" he lied. It was a bit surprising how easily the lie flowed once he had started telling it. "Do you want to see her?"

"...I'd like that" Flowey said mutely, before vanishing into the ground. Asgore stared at the spot where Flowey had been, he sighed and heavily sat on the throne. Now he had on his shoulders the weight of what had happened to Asriel. Frankly, I pitied him. I pitied he had to deal with the consequences of my stubbornness, the results of the experiment Alphys and I had done. I pitied him so much I took this matter into my own hands – again.

I LOADed. Back then it didn't seem to me like I was doing it often, but now I realize I was abusing this ability.

Back to the forty-second day. I found myself once again in front of the inert golden flower, back at the Ruins. The next day, I had to take a decision regarding what to do. Would Flowey go see Asgore again, try to use him for whatever plan he had? Or would he go see Toriel? Why did Flowey have to ask where Toriel was? Despite how different this timeline was to all the others Flowey had seen, Toriel's location hadn't changed much. I hadn't understood why he had bothered to do such thing, but at that time I was too focused on what Flowey could do. I decided to stop him from telling Asgore anything.

Getting to the castle was easy, waiting was the difficult part. I sat beside the throne room entrance, doing paperwork and paying attention to what could happen inside, but I heard nothing of what I expected. Monsters passed by, some entered the throne room, nobody paid me much attention. Since it was unlikely Flowey would be around when any other monster was visiting Asgore, I always looked in the nearby halls and rooms for any signs the flower was nearby during such occasions.

There was nothing. A couple weeks passed before I decided I had misjudged what Flowey would do. He must have gone to see Toriel.

I LOADed. Day 42 again.

Now that I think about it, if it hadn't been for this...power the deadline would have been reached already. Four months passed, and there was still no word from my master. What was going on with him?

I decided to wait until the next night before talking with Toriel. Since Flowey hadn't gone with Asgore last time, and asked where Toriel was, it was logical he had gone to see the queen last time, and most likely he'd do it again.

That night I met the queen, monster illusion ready – I didn't want to show myself as a human in front of Flowey. When I ascended the stairs and reached her home, I stopped, listening intently. It wouldn't be surprising if there was someone talking with the queen – the Royal Guards stationed in the Ruins surely had to see her all the time. I had to be careful. It'd be unlikely I'd be able to talk with Toriel without any problems, so I decided to be upfront about my presence here. I knocked the wooden railing of the stairs, the sound echoed in the house. "Your Majesty?" I asked aloud. A few seconds passed before I heard her voice.

"Please, come here" her friendly voice was coming from the living room. Even though it sounded calm and natural, I detected a very slight tremor in her voice. I looked around, to make sure no guard was around, and went into the living room. Toriel was sitting to the table, her crown on the wooden surface. Near it there was a plate with a piece of pie. Snail pie, most likely.

"Good evening, Toriel. I hope you have been having a good day" I said rather stiffly, clasping my hands behind my back. Toriel picked up her crown, smiling noncommittally. I couldn't avoid picturing a vault door closing – even though Toriel's courteous demeanor didn't waver, it was like she would refuse to let me catch her with her guard down. For a moment I wondered if Flowey was nearby, listening.

"I have been rather busy today – I believe you know what I'm talking about. It's no secret there's a child living in Snowdin, is it?" she clarified once she noticed I was confused. "I intend to meet them. I'll bestow onto them all the protection I can, as Queen of All Monsters. I won't tolerate Asgore taking action against them"

"...oh. That's...good" of course. I had failed to consider Frisk could unwittingly create a chasm between Asgore and Toriel. The Queen's protection would keep them safe, but I had no faith on them solving this situation amicably. I just hoped it wouldn't get worse – and that if it did, nobody would have to deal with the mess that'd ensue. I put a hand over the back of the chair, pulling it out to sit down.

"May I?" I asked, just to be polite. Once she approved, I sat down, trying to think of the best way to prod her for information. Being deceitful wouldn't work, perhaps being more direct would be better? "Have you...been visited by anyone unusual today?"

"It depends on what you define as 'unusual'" she said without missing a beat. I had to respect how well she could act natural "No human has fallen down, if that's what you're wondering"

"No, I was thinking of more along the lines of..." I drew circles with a finger on the table, hesitating. "...a...plant monster"

Something flashed in Toriel's eyes. The slight smile on her face didn't waver, but I felt like I had done a wrong move – she was alert now. "There are several Vegetoids here in the Ruins, of course I have met with one or two of them today"

"...right. Of course" I took a deep breath, glancing at the pie. I was pretty sure she had offered that to Flowey, but it wasn't like it was undeniable proof of that. There was no way to be delicate about this. "Have they...said something unusual to you?"

"It depends on what you define as 'unusual'" she repeated.

"I don't know. Anything that sounds like they're asking you to do something, or anything that's plain suspicious. Look, I'm talking about a golden flower"

Now there was no doubt, I was treading on dangerous terrain. Her smile disappeared. "I don't know who you're talking about"

"I don't think they're being truthful with you; I just came here to warn you"

"What exactly do you think they're saying?"

At least she admitted she knew who I was talking about. Small victories! "I don't know what they may have said to you, I just think you shouldn't listen to anything they say. That's all"

"...I'll keep that in mind" she said "Regardless, I believe the warning isn't necessary. I'd like to think I'm decent at ascertaining anyone's intentions"

"I sure hope so" I mumbled "I'm just worried, that's all. I didn't mean to offend you"

There was a rather uncomfortable silence, I felt the queen's constant stare on me. It was like she was trying to ascertain _my_ intentions, figure out if I was being truthful. I didn't think I'd be able to look at her to the eyes while she was doing that. A minute later, she stood up from the table, placing a hand on my shoulder. "Can you please help me? There's something I need to do, but I shouldn't leave the house right now"

"Sure, what's it?"

"Can you please take these to the village?" she took some bags from the kitchen. Food supplies, those seemed to be. "Please do so as soon as possible – I believe these will be well-received by everyone there. I made these with my own two hands"

Even though she sounded earnest, I had the feeling she was trying to get me out of the Ruins. At least she was being kind of subtle about it. I nodded and received the bags, walking to the stairs. Before I descended I raised my voice, impulsively taking a decision:

"If _someone_ wants to talk to me, I'll be at the entrance of the Ruins in the morning– not _this_ entrance, the other one"

"...I believe the Ruins will have to be closed for a while" Toriel brusquely said. I shook my head, hoping what I had just said would be enough to get Flowey's attention.

"Good luck with that" I said right before LOADing.

-ooooo-

 **Day 43**

I was so nervous that night I wasn't able to sleep. I had no idea if Flowey would meet me – frankly, my opinion was that he wouldn't. My only hope was to pique his curiosity. If I could make myself seem like an unusual event, like something new, something he had never seen before, then he'd come, that I was sure about. Flowey had seen the timeline countless times, and I had been in none of them. That was my chance – I had to make myself...mysterious enough for him to want to know what was going on.

I had no idea what I'd say to him once we met, or what I could do. Despite everything I had seen, Flowey was...unpredictable. I knew no matter what I planned, I'd have to improvise.

When the lighting inside the cave changed, and morning finally arrived, I left the village. During the entire journey to the Ruins I kept thinking the same thing, over and over:

 _I only have one chance._

If I said the wrong thing, Flowey would remember. SAVE, LOAD, it wouldn't matter, he'd remember and I doubted I could fool him afterwards.

Toriel didn't seem to be at her house, the Ruins were very silent. My steps echoed, it felt like I was walking in a dream. There weren't many monsters around, the only ones I encountered were guards, and to them I said Undyne had sent me to find out if they needed anything. I got to the fence and in a moment of carelessness of the guard that was there at the time, I jumped over it, getting into the furthest areas of the Ruins.

I walked over deactivated puzzles until I reached the entrance of the Ruins. I descended the stairs, slowly walking to the circle of grass where I had planted the flower. It wasn't there anymore. In the spot where I had planted it, there was only a small bunch of moved soil. Nervous, I curled my hands into fists and bumped them together, and although I couldn't feel them, I was sure the feathers on the back of my head were sticking high in the air. I must have looked like some sort of freaked out chicken.

I don't know for how long I waited. I returned to the stairs of the Ruins and sat down at the top, my heart hammering in my chest. I waited, staring at the purple brick walls and the red leaves on the floor. Even if I had wanted to think and plan ahead what I could say, it felt like my head was filled with fog, I kept feeling like I was way over my head.

Finally I heard the voice I had been waiting to hear, coming from the other stairs, on the other side of the room. What I didn't expect was how he'd sound.

"Howdy. Did you...want to see me?"

He sounded very wary of me. It had none of the confidence I had perceived from Flowey in all those timelines. Maybe it was because in them, Flowey was talking with monsters he had seen thousands of times, and I was a new variable, one he didn't know. I chalked it up to that and nodded. "Thought you wouldn't come. You curious?" I said, turning my head around to look at him.

"...I guess I am"

He kind of looked like I expected. Yellow petals, standing straight and without hiding. What I didn't foresee was the blank expression on his face, almost...worried. If I hadn't known better, I'd have thought he _was_ worried about something. I waved at him. "I guess you're wondering who I am, right?"

Flowey nodded. "Are you the Royal Scientist?"

That was a question I never saw coming. It was farfetched, it was senseless, and I just couldn't understand how he could think I was the Royal Scientist. "Why would you think that?!" I was so surprised I sounded so indignant.

"I'm not sure. I just..." he looked away "You knew about me; you knew I was...what I am now" he paused.

"A flower?"

"You were looking for me, so I thought you could tell me why I'm like...like this now"

At this point I started to realize something was off about all this. Flowey sounded truly confused, it was throwing me off. I had no idea what to say, but a creeping feeling started invading me. I feared to find out if the thought I just had was correct, but I had to find out. "Let's start from the top. What's your name?"

Flowey was silent for quite a long time. A minute or so passed before he finally answered:

"I don't know how I should call myself, but...Flowey should be okay. I'm a flower now, so it fits me, right?"

I shuddered, trying hard so my face wouldn't show how horrified I felt. Tense, I turned around and buried my head into my hands, suddenly I felt like the floor was disappearing underneath my feet. I had taken for granted so many things, I had failed to consider a very simple and very important fact:

Alphys and I _had just created_ Flowey in this timeline.

Flowey hadn't existed at all before we started the experiment. For Flowey to remember everything, to know what was going on with the Underground and all, he'd have to have existed already, like Frisk. The child knew, and I was sure it was because Frisk had always existed.

But _this_ Flowey was different. What the Floweys in countless other timelines had done, seen and said didn't matter. They were a different Flowey, one the flower in front of me knew nothing about and had never been. The weight of what I had done was too much to process at once, but I knew one thing for sure.

I had been so blinded by the panic of Asriel not existing in the last timeline, so concerned about his life having been a price to pay to achieve a fitting end to the looping timelines, that I had condemned him to a soulless existence as a flower. I brought Flowey into existence in a timeline where he never existed and would have never existed if I hadn't gotten involved. This Flowey...was **a completely blank slate**.

"Oh my god, I'm such a moron..." I whispered to myself, hoarse.

I spent a couple minutes sitting there in shock until finally Flowey snapped me out of my reverie. "Are you okay?" he asked. I tried to seem like nothing was wrong. I didn't want him to see how much this had upset me.

"I'm fine. Listen, I think it's common sense, but just in case: going around telling people who you are isn't a good idea"

Flowey's leaves shook. Was that a shrug? "I know! Who'd believe me if I said I was Asriel? Only my parents would..." an idea seemed to cross his mind, because his attitude changed immediately "Wait, you can explain this to them! I don't know what you had to do with this, but you know what's going on, right?"

What was I supposed to say to that? Definitely not the truth, that much I was sure about. "I...I think I have an idea or two"

"Everything's so strange! I remember..." he frowned "I remember dying. I'm sure I died, after I..." he paused for a moment "I'm sure some time has passed, but why am I a flower now? And also, I'm sure I went back in time"

"What makes you think that?"

"I went to see Mom and Dad before coming here..." I tensed up a little. I really didn't know them to know about Flowey, would I have to LOAD again? I was getting tired of returning to the evening of the 42nd day. "I didn't talk to them, but they were doing exactly the same things I had found them doing before. It was like I was in a...I don't know how it's called. Derjebrew?"

I made uncertain gestures. "Something like that. I have felt the same, it's like we went back in the timeline. I don't know what causes it, it's been happening for a while. Only you and I can feel it"

" _Why_ is it happening?"

"I don't know. It just is"

"And why am I a flower? Why am I alive again? If you know you have to tell me, I need to know!"

He was pressuring me as much as he could in his current state. I didn't cower or try to dodge the topic – much. "It's not really something we can talk about"

"What do you mean it's not something we can talk about?!" he scowled "Look at me, I'm a flower! If you know anything you have to tell me!" It was kind of pitiable to see him beg like that, so pitiable I briefly considered telling him – just for a second before I discarded that thought "Why am I alive? Why can't I..." he was at a loss of how to phrase it for a moment "...why can't I feel anything...?"

He wasn't going to find out if I didn't tell him, that I was sure about. If I told him and later I regretted it, I wouldn't be able to undo it. Still...right now I had to do damage control. That included making sure Flowey wasn't going to turn the Underground upside-down looking for an explanation as to why he was a flower now. If I could soften the blow...

"You're soulless now"

Nailed it. Way to go, me. Flowey's jaw dropped, somehow. "What's that supposed to mean?!"

"It means you don't have a soul"

"I know that! I just—why don't I have a soul?!" Flowey sounded rather distressed, so much for a moment I wondered if he was truly feeling distress in a way that having no soul could hinder "I just want to know why!"

My eyes darted to a side while I tried to recall if I had thought about how to touch that topic. "You were...revived. I'm not sure I can say why or how, but—"

"Why not?! I'm not a kid, I can understand whatever happened!"

I really wasn't going to be allowed to dodge the topic, apparently. If trying to avoid it didn't work, then I decided to go with the next best option that wasn't explaining and admitting I had ruined his existence. "I don't know how or why it's happening, Flowey. I just know you exist, and that's it"

Seeing he wasn't going to get anywhere by interrogating me, Flowey sighed, his stem bending forward in an arch. If it hadn't been rigid enough to keep him standing, his face would have hit the ground. "I don't get why this is happening, and Mom and Dad can't help me" he looked up, quietly wondering: "What should I do now...?"

Letting Flowey do whatever he wanted could only cause trouble. I doubted he'd tell anyone he was Asriel, or try to kill any human he encountered, but keeping him away from the village was a good idea. Trying to avoid him meeting Frisk could be good too. The problem was how to do such things. Getting him to help us all with our objective of shattering the Barrier could be good, too. I hadn't thought yet what to ask him to do, but first I'd have to convince him to help. Not realizing this wasn't the best time to bring such thing up, I said: "Listen, there's something going on in the Underground, and I'll need your help to deal with it. If you help me with that, I'll help you. Easy, isn't it?"

Flowey narrowed his eyes, I could tell he wasn't convinced at all. "What'd I have to do?"

"I don't know yet. All I'm sure about is that you have to stay away from the ghost farm area" that was close enough to the Hidden Village, I hoped that'd be enough to keep him away from the humans. "Let me think and I'll tell you—"

"...no"

I knew I wasn't really making a good case as to why he should help me, yet that blunt 'no' still came as a surprise to me. "Eh, w-what?"

"I'm not doing anything. I don't know what you're planning but I don't want to be part of it" he scowled with obvious displeasure towards me and added, sounding childish yet rightfully outraged: " _I don't trust you_ " Once he let that sink, he disappeared into the ground.

What I had expected to be a tough conversation with Flowey went rather badly. I knew the odds it'd be a disaster were very high, and it was a disaster...for reasons different than the ones I had thought about before. I stared at the hole Flowey had disappeared into, trying to understand how exactly I had gone wrong.

I chalked it up to the horror that was finding out you didn't have a soul, and your body being completely different to what you were used to. There are many differences between goats and flowers! Anyone would be freaked out if you found out you were completely different than before, and even more if the last thing you remembered was _dying_.

The only person I could think wouldn't take it badly was...well, myself. I don't remember a thing from when I was just as Shadow from the collective unconscious of this world. Although I have a lot of memories, it feels like there's a difference between _those_ memories and _my_ memories – the memories I have made during these last few weeks. I had to admit it: I was an empty vessel that contained a borrowed portion of a person's soul. Flowey was a vessel without a soul, but his situation was similar in some ways to mine. I knew that.

Yet I had just tried to manipulate him. That was what I had tried, manipulating him to avoid trouble and to fulfill goals, and I had done it willingly and having decided it by myself. I couldn't blame my master, this had all been my decision.

... I really _am_ an awful person.

-ooooo-

Things couldn't continue like this and I knew it. My actions were causing more trouble than good, especially to those I cared about.

I had to change. I had to be less selfish, stop doing everything without thinking carefully of the consequences. Here I had been, despising my master – the other part of _myself,_ technically – without realizing I was just as bad as him. My self-awareness was at an all-time low, and it's precisely that what didn't let me notice I was screwing up as badly or worse than my master.

I had decided to return to the village, and right at the crevice where I had to slide to get into the tunnel that led to the village was Undyne. She wasn't alone, there were two kids with her: Ananas and Monster Kid. There was a rope tied to their waists, and on the other end, was Undyne, clad with her armor and with the rope tied around her torso. She was standing there, digging her heels into the ground. Judging by the marks on the rocks behind her feet, she had been doing this for a while already.

"She's not moving!" Monster Kid said. Ananas flicked her hat upwards, she seemed very serious about whatever they were doing.

"Keep going, I'll push her from the back" she went back to turn around Undyne and start pushing her, Undyne wasn't going to let that happen. She stopped Ananas with a hand against her forehead, she was grinning.

"This isn't going to work at all! You're going to have to think of something else!"

"I won't be stopped!" Ananas smushed her face against the gauntlet, stubbornly refusing to back down.

"Seriously, that won't work" in that moment, Undyne looked up and noticed me. "Well look who decided to come by"

Ananas looked up as well, her face brightening. "This is perfect! With his help we can do this" with Monster Kid barely following her pace, Ananas climbed the crevice until she reached me, took me by a hand, and tried to take me to where Undyne was. "You're going to help us, right? Come on, we need another person and you're an adult, you can help us!"

"...what exactly are you all trying to do?" I wasn't sure I understood the point of all this, all Undyne did as a reply was gesture at Ananas to tell me. The girl nodded and said, with a lot of pride:

"Undyne is training us!"

She hadn't been kidding when she said she'd try to get our trust, apparently. I pointed at Monster Kid. "Him too?"

"Of course" she replied, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. You don't deny Monster Kid a chance to spend time with the monster he admires. "We're supposed to drag her all the way to the end of this tunnel" she pointed at the end of the passageway, to the plateau right before the stairs that led into the depths of the village.

"We have moved her like five inches!" Monster Kid added, looking at the grooves Undyne's boots made on the ground.

"That isn't much, and we don't want to stop until we win" Ananas took some more rope "This is where you help us. With you, we can get her all the way to the village. You'll be helping us, right?"

Hardly anyone could say no to anyone asking with such bright eyes and eager disposition, especially when right behind her there's another kid with equally bright eyes and eager disposition. Before I knew it, I had a rope tied to myself and got positioned on the back, behind them, them raring to start pulling as soon as Undyne indicated she was ready. We were all separated by a couple feet of rope. I grabbed the rope trailing behind me, trying to get a good grip on it. "So what's the plan?"

Monster Kid looked at Ananas, she was the one in charge. With lots of determination, she squared in front of me and gave orders:

"You'll be the last one in the row. MK is having trouble keeping the pace, you'll have to help him. I'll be in the front and do most of the work"

"I thought that's what I was here for"

"No, I'll guide you. I know what I'm doing" she said "We'll do the ol' one-two, everyone at the same time, okay?"

It was easy enough to understand, what I wasn't sure about was how effective it'd be. It seemed a bit simple, and didn't really account for Undyne's weight or anything like that. I didn't voice my concerns, though, I simply nodded and got myself ready. "Let's do it!" Monster Kid was ready too, his tail was wagging.

"Go! One! Tw—ack!"

I had barely gone a few steps forward when Undyne pulled from the rope, catching Ananas by surprise and making her stumble back and fall on her rear. Monster Kid barely managed to stop himself from falling, and I instinctively pulled forward. Behind me I heard Undyne laughing uproariously, celebrating ruining Ananas' immediate plan. "Annie, are you okay?" Monster Kid hurried forward, trying to reach her, but Undyne kept the rope taut, making sure he wouldn't even come close to Ananas.

"Undyne, that's cheating!" Ananas protested, picking up her hat from the ground. She got her footing for a second before Undyne managed to throw her down to the floor again. I tried to use the bit of rope I had in my hands to stop her from making Ananas fall, but to no avail, Undyne was too strong. Growling with frustration, Ananas turned around and started crawling. "Whatever. Don't give up! Keep going!"

"A-Alright!" Monster Kid tried to follow her pace, but it was difficult to do when the person in front of you wasn't even walking. His legs were also shorter than mine, we couldn't even walk in a synchronized manner.

It was useless. We were so uncoordinated we couldn't drag Undyne further, we were doing worse than before I had arrived. Undyne stayed in the same place, looking almost bored while she held us three of us back with no effort from her part. The more Ananas tried, the more frustrated she got, like she didn't understand why three working at once weren't doing better than when there were only two. She was sweating, pulling and scratching from the rope, and crawling stubbornly. Monster Kid was doing better than her, he kept trying to approach her, without much success. We were too far from each other; he couldn't do anything.

After several minutes of trying, Ananas huffed and sat, crossing her arms. She was almost pouting. "I don't get it, I thought we'd be done by now!"

"We're doing something wrong?" Monster Kid suggested.

"I just don't understand what we're doing wrong" she waved to Undyne "Undyne, can we rest?"

Soon we were all sitting on the plateau at the top of the stairs that led to the village. I stared at the roofs of the cottages, listening to them. "What did we do wrong, Undyne?"

Undyne patted Ananas' back with a surprising amount of care, making sure not to hurt her. "Can't tell you, squirt. You'll have to find out by yourself"

"Come on, can't you give us a hint? Even a small one?" she pleaded, joining her hands together "I know you made this to train me, but I don't know it's helping. If I knew..."

"So it's like an exam?" Monster Kid wondered "If you knew the answer it'd have no point?"

"Something like that" Undyne nodded "It's about something I had to learn when I entered the Royal Guard long ago"

"Like...teamwork?"

"Maybe" she said. Clearly she was having a bit too much fun playing the role of improvised mentor to Ananas, who was listening to her talking with Monster Kid about it "There was someone I used to follow around – Gerson, the Hammer of Justice"

"The old monster from the shop?" I inquired, even though I knew it was that one.

"Yeah, that one! He may not look like it now, but he was seriously cool back then. He could swing that hammer and turn a rock into dust" she grinned fondly "I used to swing a toy and pretend it was a hammer, I dunno how many toys I broke doing that" once she was done going down memory lane, she continued: "He tried to teach me some stuff, but I understood it all better when I joined the Royal Guard. This is one of those things"

"Did he teach this to you?" Ananas picked up the rope.

"No, this is an exercise we do at the Royal Guard. It's meant to teach—oh, wait, I can't say it. That's still something for you to figure out by yourself"

The thought of a challenge seemed to be encouraging for Ananas. Instead of getting frustrated by having to think, she nodded, looking very determined. "I will"

"That's what I wanted to hear!" Undyne sounded proud "You kind of remind me of myself, you know"

"Really?" Ananas, surprised, whispered, mostly to herself, although Monster Kid and I were close enough to hear her: "I hope when I grow up I'm as cool as you, Undyne..."

"She's great, isn't she?" Monster Kid jumped a little.

Ananas nodded. "I'll think about what she said, and figure out what she wants me to know. You're going to help me, right?" Needless to say, Monster Kid agreed immediately. Then she turned towards me: "You'll help me too"

"Me?" I thought she'd try to be as independent as possible, or try to get as little people involved as possible so she could solve it by herself, yet there she was, not asking, she was outright telling me she expected me to help. It was kind of rude, but it also warmed my heart a little. I wanted to think that meant she thought I was reliable enough to help her.

"I'll figure it out, and then we'll all try again. When I'm ready you'll help me, and the three of us will drag Undyne all the way here" she said it with such certainty all I could do was agree. I really did feel like **Ananas wanted to rely on me**. I felt myself growing a little closer to her.

-ooooo-

Monster Kid and Ananas immediately started discussing what Undyne had meant with this little exercise she had made for them, while Undyne talked with Cohen at the base of the stairs. Although she now knew where the village was – apparently Ananas had told her that day, as a sign of trust – she didn't dare to approach it further than where she was. From the distance nobody would be able to tell Cohen was talking to the captain of the Royal Guard, so they judged there was no danger. As to myself, I was sitting on the edge of the plateau, thinking.

It was clear to me what Undyne meant Ananas to discover. Undyne knew this girl wanted to be the guardian of the village, the person who'd protect everyone. She'd be a _leader_ , in other words. That must have been why Ananas had been so eager to take charge of this challenge, directing Monster Kid and I on what to do.

Ananas was doing well as a leader. She had organized us and given us instructions, and she had the drive to try to reach objectives. What she had yet to learn was that she had to rely on those she was in charge of.

We all were too separated from each other to pull from Undyne effectively. Although there was an attempt to keep us coordinated, the moment one of us failed to keep up was the moment the plan was ruined, and since we were too separated from each other, we couldn't help each other. We had to be closer to each other. Personally, I think by being near each other, we'd be able to pull from the rope with more strength. By being closer to each other, as a team, we'd be able to complete the challenge.

And although I doubt Undyne ever imagined someone other than Ananas could find meaning to it, it was making me think.

I was the leader of a team that strived to shatter the Barrier. Everyone relied on me to tell them what to do – nobody else knew anything about Shadows and Personas. I'm not sure if they even suspected all the information I had was secondhand. They all followed me without questioning, they trusted me to tell them what was the best thing to do and to take the right decisions. Nobody named me leader, I was the defacto leader because there was nobody else that could do it.

If I wanted to help everyone better and make steps towards being a better person, I had to stop hiding information. I doubted anyone would be happy to hear what I was hiding, but it was better than keeping it to myself and lying for longer. With some hesitation, I approached Ananas and asked her to come with me downstairs, to where Undyne and Cohen were waiting. Ananas and Monster Kid looked at each other, the girl shrugged and followed me.

Once we got to the bottom, I got Undyne and Cohen's attention. "Got a second?" I took a deep breath, preparing myself. There was no softening this, so I judged saying it without beating around the bush was a good idea. "There's something I need to tell you" They all exchanged looks of concern. They must have sensed my unease, so I opened my mouth and started: "I—"

And then it came back.

It wasn't like a direct order; it was never like that. It always felt like a faint suggestion, an almost unnoticeable thought that came naturally to me. Going against them was technically not an option, but they always felt like they were my ideas, so I never really felt conflicted about them. Until now.

"N...Nevermind"

Uneasy or not, I couldn't go against my master's wishes and instructions.

 **GAME RESUMED**

-ooooo-

Flowey burrowed through the ground aimlessly. The soil everywhere in the Underground was soaked in magic, making it easy for him to move, and he could feel what was above the surface so he doesn't smash against something unbreakable. He didn't have a concrete destination, all he wanted was get away from the Ruins and from the frustrating person who had refused to tell him what was going on.

He was certain that guy knew. He knew he had once been Asriel, he told him he had no soul, no way he didn't know how exactly he had been...revived? Revived as a flower. And he had refused to explain, the nerve of that person! He had even _pleaded_ for it, and that guy refused to say anything!

All Flowey was certain about was that he didn't deserve any of what was happening to him. He died, he didn't ask to live as a flower, he didn't ask to now be aimless in the Underground, with no plan and no future ahead. He was just a child, what was he supposed to do now? Asking Mom and Dad hadn't helped. They had both been willing to help, they had treated him like the son he really was...and he had felt nothing. No affection, no relief, it was just an empty feeling of 'is this all?'. It had puzzled him back then, but now he was starting to take it in stride.

Toriel used to say you get used to a lot of situations in life. Having no soul was no different.

 _I have to think._ Flowey stopped moving underground, trying to focus and put his thoughts in order. He was sure that reptile with feathers at the Ruins had something to do with how it seemed everything had...gone back on time? It felt familiar in some weird way. Flowey was sure the guy had caused it somehow, he had proven it with what he had said at Toriel's house...the day before? Many days from now, in the future? _This isn't working!_ It was too much to process at once! Feeling like he was suffocating from the impossible mess he had been brought into, Flowey surfaced, gasping for air as if he truly had been asphyxiating under the earth. Wooden planks cracked right where he emerged, he shook his head to clear away the bits of wood that clung to his petals. "Golly, that hurt..." It was barely better than emerging through the stone floors of the castle.

Dazed, Flowey opened his eyes, blinking owlishly. He seemed to be in some sort of shed. Books and lots of paper with diagrams and writing littered the place, there was a sleeping bag in a corner. And most important of all, he wasn't alone. His arrival hadn't gone unnoticed.

There was someone staring right at him. Flowey bent back, startled, and quickly examined the person in front of him. Someone with antlers...no, they were branches. His face and hands were also covered in some purple gunk, trying to simulate fur. Flowey saw right through the disguise: this was a human. Why was there a human in the Underground?! The only human who had been here was Chara, and that was...long ago. He knew a lot of time had passed, had more humans fallen into the monsters' kingdom? This one clearly was an adult!

The human lifted his thick glasses to take a better look at Flowey. "Aaaah...Paps? Paps, we got a guest here"


	35. False Hope

_**One hour earlier**_

ASRIEL sat on the rather comfortable bed in his room. Through the window he could see the small garden Lucia had on the edge of the floating piece of terrain, and beyond that, the shining golden lines he knew were just a couple of the timelines of his world. It was so strange, knowing he was in the depths of the inner workings of his world's existence, but he had gotten used to it since long ago.

What would have been ominous for a lot of people had turned into everyday normalcy for him, if only because he had seen it constantly for years already. So silent, so surreal, it reminded him of Waterfall in some way. He remembered some time ago he had asked Lucia if she could get some Echo Flowers for her garden. Through the window ASRIEL saw it, glistening in the light of many golden threads in the sky. Having calmed down a little since the argument he had with Sisyphus, ASRIEL walked down the hallways of the Hopeful Star. Ever since he got all those memories from a younger self from another timeline, he recognized this house, it helped him feel like he was in a familiar place instead of in the purple vastness that had filled the void. It was somewhat unsettling, to have memories you hadn't accepted as yours yet, but they felt...right.

Outside it was silent. Usually there was never wind or breezes, it was always a perfect stillness that was simply unnatural. It didn't hinder the plants from growing, though. On a corner of the floating terrain where the house was located at, the garden kept blossoming. Lucia had been rather kind, making this patch for him a year ago. With some trepidation, he put his ear closer to the Echo Flower, listening the message he had left to himself not so long ago, but he felt he had to remind himself:

 _You can trust him._

Lucia had advised him to leave that reminder. He hadn't understood why, but now that Sisyphus had betrayed his trust, he thought Lucia had foreseen it. Maybe she was right and feelings would always be hurt in a game like this one. Or maybe she knew Sisyphus had the capacity to hurt someone for the sake of breaking the Barrier despite the condition they had imposed about not using any human souls to shatter the Barrier.

She had said something like that once, didn't she? That she could see the worst in people because she was a terrible person. Lucia always said it with such certainty and with no remorse at all, but to ASRIEL it was hard to think of her as a bad person. True, she had been rather sketchy for quite some time, and she had ensnared him in a moment of vulnerability, but...but he liked her, and he wanted to trust her. It was naïve, and maybe a bit desperate because Lucia was the only person he had been near of for quite some time, but he really wanted to trust her.

To think he had been in this manor for ten years already...

-ooooo-

Asriel Dreemurr had just told Frisk to leave him and go enjoy life above the surface with the rest of monsterkind. It hadn't been with those exact words, but that was the gist. Frisk had tried to convince him to not stay in the Underground by himself, alone and slowly turning into a flower, but he couldn't imagine returning to the surface with everyone else. Slowly lose his feelings towards everyone, slowly lose what remained of his soul and turn back into a flower, much to the horror of his family...he couldn't do that to them, that'd hurt them too much.

Besides, after everything he had done through countless timelines, it felt fair to stay in the Underground while everyone else enjoyed their life outside.

Time passed. The light that shone from the hole above his head vanished. Asriel looked up, missing how the warmth felt on his fur. It had been different than how it was like when he was a flower. Maybe he'd have more time to feel it the next day. His reversal into a flower was taking much longer than he thought. He had thought by now he'd at least be growing leaves, but he didn't seem to have any so far. It was both a relief and an annoyance – the sooner his fate came, the better. He couldn't tolerate it taking so long!

Especially when he had nothing to do. Asriel had spent the day just walking around the empty Ruins. All puzzles had been deactivated, Toriel's house was filled with her stuff, but nobody was there. Were they going to come back for all these things? The door to leave the Ruins was locked tight. He was locked inside. Frowning, Asriel passed a hand over the doors, as if expecting them to open anytime now.

Nothing happened.

The Ruins could be really cold at night, and without Toriel's homely fire magic, he wasn't looking forward to spending the night here. Forlorn, Asriel returned to the house and sat to the table. Maybe he could use his old bed...it'd feel weird to sleep at the Ruins house just like the old times, but it was better than being cold. It'd even bring back some memories. He wasn't sure he wanted them. Maybe just for old time's sake he could rummage around his toy box, try to see if he finds anything he lost a long time ago, try to find out what those oblong plants in the hallway were called—

"This place is rather inviting, for a house deep underneath the earth and in some abandoned ruins"

That unfamiliar voice startled him. Asriel jumped from the chair, instinctively moving to throw himself onto the floor like he was going to burrow into the ground, and barely stopping himself from actually trying that. Freaked out by hearing voices, he looked around. There was nobody in the house. A quick check around the house revealed there was nobody else but him, and nothing indicated somebody had been there just a moment ago. Wary about spending the night in the house but preferring that to sleeping on the cold floor anywhere else, Asriel entered his room and, after a moment of hesitation, locked the door.

If nobody but him was in the house, that meant that voice was just his imagination? It was the voice of a woman. Maybe he had imagined it, because he missed Mom. Asriel stared at the ceiling, the only noise was the sound of his own breathing. _So this is my life now. Alone in the Underground, with nothing to do._

 _...I wish it didn't have to be this way._

His wish was granted.

Asriel didn't notice he was falling asleep. All he knew was that one moment he had been sleeping on his bed, the next moment it felt like something had changed. There was a strange purplish tinge in the air – if he had been outside of the house maybe he wouldn't have noticed, but there in his room it was obvious. Asriel got off his bed, weirded out. "...howdy?" he called. Still no response. Asriel opened the door of the bedroom, noticing it was now unlocked. Outside, in the rest of the house, the same purple tinge covered everything, there was almost the sensation time had stood still.

He didn't have to go very far to notice someone who shouldn't be there.

Sitting to the table, on the other side of where he had been not too long ago, was a woman – a human woman, from what he could see, dressed with a rather vivid deep blue dress. She was almost garish, and there was a blindfold over her eyes. It didn't impede her sight, though, she waved at Asriel. "...who are you?" Asriel asked, more curious than wary.

"Sit down, little prince. Just for politeness' sake"

 _Isn't it impolite to be in someone's house without being invited?_ he thought, not daring to say it aloud. Intending to find out what was going on, Asriel sat to the other side of the table, nervous at being with a complete stranger in what was starting to be an unusual night. "Howdy. My name is Asriel" he said, just so she wouldn't call him 'little child' again. He wasn't a child anymore, technically if you put together all the time he had lived through the same days, weeks and months over and over he'd be several centuries old!

"I know. I know your entire story, and frankly I sympathize. That's why I'm here, I want to make you an offer"

It was difficult to figure out what her intention was. Despite how awful it felt to be trapped in the Ruins, even if it was willingly, that didn't mean he was going to jump into a solution given by the first person that appeared in front of him. "How did you get here?" The Ruins were supposed to be sealed for a while, apparently, had she fallen into this cave?

Lucia leaned back on her chair, carefree. "You're dreaming, little prince. You're currently all snuggly on that old bed" she said, pleasant "Doesn't mean none of this is real, though. I'm just as real as you are"

There was a silence so Asriel tried to understand the meaning of that. This being a dream did explain the strange atmosphere that filled the house. "...I think I understand. What are you here for?"

"I told you, I want to make you an offer. I have heard _a lot_ about you" her face twisted into a grimace, like she was remembering something unpleasant "I know what happened, and I just want to ask you something: is this fair? Do you deserve it?"

"I do. I caused so much suffering, and I now understand it" if she knew about him then she also had to know about his lack of soul, so he didn't go into detail "This is like punishment for everything I did"

"Ah, what a noble thought. Noble, but ultimately the mindset of a _martyr_ " she studied him for a moment, her intense gaze searing through her blindfold "Was it fair when you died?" Asriel closed his eyes, uncomfortable when she mentioned that. Even though it had been such a long time since he died, he still didn't like thinking about it "Was it fair your mind was unknowingly inserted into a mere flower? Is it really fair you have no emotions?"

"...can we...not talk about this?"

Lucia put her hands on the table and lowered her voice, persuasive. "Can you really say life has been fair to you, little prince?" he didn't answer, she pressed on "As I see it, you were dealt a rather lousy hand. I can help you...change the cards, so to say. If you agree to follow me, there'll be a way for you to get a life. You won't be a sad goat destined to turn into a flower.

 _You'll be free_ "

"...free?" It was tempting. When she put it like that, it was hard to say he deserved his self-imposed punishment. He hadn't asked to be killed, or to be able to SAVE, or even to be a flower! It was so unjust now he had to accept such situations without complaint! "How would you do it?" he definitely wanted to know more. Nothing indicated more information meant he automatically accepted, so he took the risk.

"First let me warn you it won't be quick. It's bound to take years. Then again, you have all the time in the world, don't you? Just that instead of wasting away in some ruins, you'll be doing something productive" she said "We can modify the workings of this world. It won't be perfect, but you'll get something good out of it if you do your best"

That sounded like it'd be too complicated to explain right now. What if this woman got impatient because he asked too many questions? The offer would be gone too. He had to pounce on the opportunity...and bail out, if he didn't like any of it. Deciding to stay vigilant and make sure he wouldn't fall into traps of any type, he pretended to hesitate. "Golly, I don't know..."

Lucia extended a hand. She seemed to be trying to withhold a wide grin. That didn't really make her seem more trustworthy. "Do we have a deal? Will you join me?"

Asriel's arm moved upwards a bit. He felt compelled to accept, if only so he wouldn't stay trapped as a flower in the Underground. He thought it was somewhat selfish for that to be his main motivation, but he had to be honest with himself. "What'll happen to me? I'm sleeping right now"

"With my help, your consciousness will become someone like me, while your physical body continues its life like nothing happened. From the moment you accept, you won't be Asriel Dreemurr anymore. It could be said you'll be a different person altogether"

"So I'll be trapped in the Underground forever even if I don't accept..."

"Asriel will. _You_ won't"

It was too complicated to understand right now, and Lucia wasn't willing to give him much time to think. She was pressuring him to accept. As a negotiator she was ruthless – in the sense she would keep the upper hand and mercilessly give little time to think about her terms. Either he refused and he stayed in the Ruins for the rest of his life, or he accepted this bizarre deal and entered a deal he wasn't sure would be good for him.

After a moment, Asriel grasped the hand Lucia extended.

-ooooo-

Although the house looked ruinous on the outside, and the lobby, hallways and a couple rooms looked like they would fall apart over their heads if they weren't careful, most of what he saw was clean and almost luxurious. "You don't recognize anything?" she had asked, noticing the former monster prince was gawking and looking around with amazement.

"I had never seen a place like this before!" Even the royal castle was remarkably humble. Despite the beautiful halls and the tall windows, it still was a large stone building that was mostly gray. The marbled and polished walls of Lucia's Hopeful Star was lavish, almost excessively. Lucia smiled.

"Making my home here was difficult, I had to combine my home with an abandoned house I found in this world. Someday you'll recognize the parts that seem out of place"

"What do you mean?" She didn't answer. Her constant need to entice him with mysteries was starting to annoy him.

Once he was introduced to all the places of the house he would be allowed to go to, they sat in her parlor, she was willing to answer questions more calmly now that he had accepted to join her. "Our existence is complicated" she said "We are the facets of ourselves that are part of the collective unconscious, and usually you wouldn't be aware of this side of the world, but we are special for a reason: we know how the world works, both in a literal and a figurative sense.

You have gone through the same time period so many times. You know every inch of the Underground, you know the reactions and thoughts of every monster, and even if they change, you know enough about them to know what to do to make them do what you want. You and I are what people would call a 'witch', for lack of a better word. Witches are manipulative, have magic and recruit more of themselves"

"That's all you need to be a witch?" Just knowing about the inner workings of the world? He couldn't deny he did know everything she had mentioned just now, but surely there had to be more? Otherwise, why wouldn't, say, Sans be a witch too? Or maybe he was and ASRIEL didn't know?

"No. Knowing your world so well is good, but it's not essential. What's vita for a witch to exist is the wish to escape an unescapable fate. You sentenced yourself to be trapped alone underneath a mountain, doomed to turn into a flower, and you wanted more than that. It was that intense desire what led me to you"

It made some sense. He did not want to become a flower, be soulless, and be trapped in the empty Underground, but it wasn't like he could leave the place either. Lucia continued: "Witches have come from the strangest places, but we all wanted more than the disastrous destinies we had. The impending death of the village you lived in, the impossibility of a relationship with the person you loved, the inability to reach what you worked for your entire life, being trapped in a duty because of someone else's mistake...it all has brought forth some marvelous witches.

You're now one of us"

He'd need some time to come to terms with his new status. It was a bit too much to deal with right now. "What made you a witch?"

Lucia scratched behind her ear, a look of uncertainty crossing her face. "I'd like not to talk about that. Listen, there's a lot of work to do, and the sooner we start, the sooner it'll end. It's going to take years, so let's get started. There's so much for you to learn!"

She wasn't wrong. It took years to complete the game.

-ooooo-

It had barely been a week when ASRIEL felt doubts about his stay with Lucia. All that week he had been trained in the basics of magic. Being a monster, it was easier to handle than it'd be for most people.

A few days had passed before he noticed each day he had been feeling less grateful towards her. He also felt less suspicious, less...everything. It was getting harder to recall his emotions, and how he felt about her and his new life. For a while he hoped it was just temporary, but it wasn't long before he knew what was going on:

He was undergoing the effects of being soulless. Every morning he looked all over himself, looking for green-colored patches, or for leaves. He found just what he feared, on his arm there were tiny green buds of what he was sure were leaves. Sooner or later he'd wake up as a flower. Disappointed and mustering all the assertiveness he could muster at that time, he hurried to the parlor, where Lucia was calmly reading a book. ASRIEL ran to her and extended his arm, showing her the leaves. "I thought this wouldn't happen!"

"...oh. Oh, right. I forgot" Lucia put the map aside, grabbing ASRIEL's arm with surprising delicacy. She touched the leaves, making ASRIEL shudder. It felt so strange, like an appendage that shouldn't be there. "I can make these go away, but I'm not responsible for this. It's your body, only you can decide if you'll return to being a flower or not"

"That's not something I can just _decide_! I don't have a soul anymore; I'll turn into-"

Lucia scowled. "Why are you questioning what I say as if I don't know more than you?" even though her tone was rather nasty, she wasn't wrong, if she said he could then it was likely he could. Maybe because his disbelief had annoyed her, she pressed the leaves with her thumb with a bit more force than it warranted. All the leafy buds were gone in a moment. "There. Now listen, we are in the collective unconscious right now. If you decide you're not turning into a flower, then you won't. The power of the mind over the body, basically"

That sounded simpler than he expected, and that was good. The simpler it was, the easier it'd be for him to understand. "So if I decide I'll grow up..."

"You will. Technically you could make yourself grow in mere seconds, but I think you really, really shouldn't do that" she said "You're very old by now, but I don't think it'll do you much good to be in an unfamiliar body all of a sudden. You freaked out when you found yourself in an unfamiliar body once, let's not let it happen again. Let it happen with time, okay?"

-ooooo-

Time kept passing. After a month, Lucia decided it was time to introduce ASRIEL to the methods witches used to play with a world. She entered ASRIEL's room, giddy. "It's time. You're ready for the meat of the matter, ASRIEL. Follow me, to my study"

"Not the parlor?"

"No, my _study_. That's where I keep everything you'll need"

Lucia's study was right on the top of the manor. When ASRIEL entered the study, he felt a very, very faint feeling of amazement. The study was a sizable circular room, lined with bookshelves and tables. On the far end there was a rather large canopy bed that seemed to be the kind a little girl would want. The lighting of the study was purplish, dim, like it was meant to give an aura of mystery to the place, the small chandelier on the top was outfitted with veils. It'd have been a rather nice room to look if it wasn't for two details that seemed rather morbid.

One was the canine skeleton behind a glass case. It was positioned as if the dog was lying on its belly, staring right at the entrance of the study. There were also two large curved horns protruding from the top of its head. The plaque welded to the case had a few words:

 _'REST IN PEACE, CORNIO, BEST FRIEND'_

The other detail was that the atmosphere was heavy, uncomfortable, like someone had spent a lot of time here grieving and in deep sorrow. It wasn't an atmosphere he wanted to spent much time in, but he had no option.

One of the smaller tables was lifted in the air and taken to the center of the study, Lucia followed it with a book that turned into a board in a moment. She placed it on the table, and around thirty pieces appeared immediately on the ends of the board. "Come over here, take a look at this" ASRIEL approached to see what Lucia had called him here for.

It resembled a chessboard with too many pieces. "We're going to play chess? I don't know how to play" ASRIEL stated, unsure if she had called him all the way to her study just to play chess.

"No, this isn't a simple game of chess. Take a better look at this. Can't you see it?"

ASRIEL focused onto the board, examining every inch of the surface and the pieces, until it felt like he was seeing more than that. The flat surface turned into a city, the pieces into different humans, into different objects, even into concepts like dark nights and stormy days. "What place is this?"

"This you see here is what we use to interact with the worlds. Usually, two witches sit to play a game, each one taking a side. One creates a script, a story, the other tries to defeat them. That's what decides the fate of the pieces"

"That's what we're going to do with the Underground?" It sounded easier than spending lots of time convincing and befriending a lot of monsters so they did what he wanted.

"Yes. But before we can do that, I'll have to turn you into an expert in games. Right now you'd lose unless you played against a complete beginner. Sit here and watch carefully the movements of the pieces"

That was how they spent the next couple years.

Lucia always brought ASRIEL to her study, took a board from her bookshelf, and showed ASRIEL how the game went. The pieces moved automatically while Lucia recited what happened in the world, what the characters said, what kind of situation they went through, and how the game ended. Very few games reached a happy ending, most times the endings were bittersweet to some extent, and a considerable amount ended in the complete destruction of the pieces' lives. Lucia always took the time to explain why every move happened, how each movement influenced the world, and what kind of mistakes the players made. Board after board, world after world, every day during a couple years.

ASRIEL saw so many worlds, so many people, so many humans and non-humans, it started to feel like the Underground and everything he had known was incredibly insignificant.

And more than anything else, he understood what he had done all those times as Flowey was very similar to what he was supposed to do now. It was all about manipulating everyone to do what he wanted. All he had to do is figure out weaknesses and the right moves much quicker than he used to do before.

That wouldn't be too difficult, he believed.

-ooooo-

Three years passed.

Just like Lucia had said, ASRIEL didn't turn back into a flower. He willed himself to be a monster and continue growing, and so that happened. ASRIEL grew, as if he had been absorbing his parents' magic. The growth spurts were rather dramatic, and although Lucia had said she wouldn't take the time to check on him or be friendly towards him, she showed an unexpected amount of kindness, even though he never appreciated it.

Sizable horns and fangs growing in your skull was a painful experience. He couldn't ask Asgore or Toriel for some sort of way to counter it, so all he could do was endure the pain and hope the headaches didn't last long. His pained expression must have been rather noticeable, because one day Lucia entered his room. "What's going on? Why do you look like you need your wisdom teeth extracted?"

"My...my what?" ASRIEL wasn't sure what wisdom teeth were, but if Lucia tried to extract his fangs then he was getting out of there as soon as possible!

"You're in pain, I can see that. What's wrong?"

By now he knew when she got something in her head, she could get really stubborn. Deciding not to waste time trying to drive her away, ASRIEL looked apologetic. He had gained the habit of feigning some emotions sometimes, if only to not forget them. Anything to not fall back to his worst behaviors during his days as Flowey. "I didn't think growing up hurt like this. It's like my head is splitting in half!"

"The horns, huh" Lucia stared at the growing horns, rubbing her chin and mulling something. After a moment she slowly approached her guest. "Trust me for a moment. I'll try to help you"

"I don't think this is something you can _help me_ with" ASRIEL said bluntly, baring his teeth a bit. Lucia raised her hands.

"I know what I'm doing. Just trust me"

Resigned, ASRIEL yielded. Lucia got behind ASRIEL and carefully placed her fingertips at the base of his horns, right where the horns connected with his head. Slowly, pressing a bit, she started moving her fingertips in circles. Bit by bit ASRIEL felt how his headache diminished until it was just a dull sensation of discomfort. Compared to the aches from before, that was better.

Surprised, ASRIEL turned around. "I'm feeling better now! What was that?"

"It's just something I used to do for a friend I had. His horns used to cause him pain too" she smiled with nostalgia.

"Really? What did you use to do in your world?"

"...you could say I used to tame wild animals. That's all" she shook her head, hurrying to go to the door "You're not an animal, but I think I can help you if you're in pain anytime. Just tell me and I'll see what I can do" it was a bit more altruistic than ASRIEL had expected from her. Lucia left, leaving the door open. That was a clear indication he was meant to follow her.

When they arrived to her study, she put a gameboard on the table, just like she had done for years already. This time ASRIEL noticed something was different, though: the wood of the board looked lustrous, the pieces looked brand new. From inside the board there was a golden and blue shine. "What's this?" ASRIEL sat in his spot. Lucia opened her arms wide, proud.

"It's a brand new game! I have decided you have learned enough about past games, now you will hone your skills through some practical application.

Take that side. Solve this game I obtained"

What followed was a humiliating loss for ASRIEL. Even though he had spent two years studying hundreds of different games and scenarios, playing was a completely different matter. He couldn't apply most of what he had learned, Lucia barely imitated anything she had showed him before. Even though he had a lot of knowledge, he just couldn't apply it as efficiently as before.

It ended with the complete destruction of all the pieces on his side. Lucia looked at the remains of the setting of the game they had just finished, shaking her head and finishing the narration: "...all was lost. The meteor struck, and the resulting wave drowned the coastal town until nothing remained" she flicked a finger upwards, the pieces flew off the board and disappeared. "Game over. I win"

"You can't have expected me to win my first game" ASRIEL said defensively.

"I suppose not, but remember you have to learn to play. You need to be a prodigy at this game if you want to save monsterkind" Lucia said lightly "You already got a head start thanks to your years as Flowey, but that's not going to be enough"

If all he had to do was get better at playing, then that was going to be easy. That was matter of practice, over and over. Once Lucia said he could go rest, he stood up and left the study. He was sure the next game wouldn't be similar to the one he had just played, but he started looking back to his mistakes during the game, remembering Lucia's narration and how she strung him along her plans and strategies.

It wasn't surprising she had won. She had surreptitiously led him towards paths and moves that wouldn't help him at all. He would be more careful next time.

-ooooo-

The next time he was more careful. He got defeated. Over and over. Another year of training passed before he won. Lucia was defeated right in the nick of time, ASRIEL surrounded her pieces with skill. Lucia was completely still. Was she in shock?

"...I lost..."

"Checkmate!" ASRIEL couldn't avoid saying, almost like bragging.

"I gave my best...and I lost. I can't believe I actually lost..."

"You should have known this'd happen someday"

Lucia's stunned demeanor melted, she seemed genuinely proud of ASRIEL. "I knew it. You're truly a prodigy" It was very impressive ASRIEL had managed to defeat her, even if it had been a very close match. The mere fact she lost was meaningful enough – he had defeated a witch that had thousands of years of experience more than him. She stood up, smoothing down the hems of her long sleeves, barely containing her joy. "I taught you everything I knew, and I'm finally seeing the fruits of my labor. Well done"

"Now what? Will we start working on my world?" He refrained from being frank: he was getting impatient. ASRIEL had gained a lot of patience after the countless SAVE and LOAD, he had to be patient in order to befriend all those monsters, but after four years he was wondering when exactly he'd do what he was brought here for. It wasn't that he didn't find interesting all the games he had taken part in, it was just that after all this time he thought they'd have started already.

It wasn't surprising making a new game would be a lot of work. They needed a setting - Lucia placed a large blank piece of paper, and passed ASRIEL a pencil. "We're going to create this board from scratch. Don't worry, I'll help you with that. Can you draw a map of the Underground?" Not only he drew every part of the Underground, he also wrote everything he remembered about those places.

They needed the pieces – Lucia dropped a few sheets, neatly divided in cells. "Not every monster in the Underground needs to be a piece. Those that are similar can be grouped in one single piece, but just in case write about everyone you know" Hundreds upon hundreds of monsters were painstakingly described. Their appearances, their personalities, their lives, everything that could be relevant was written and analyzed.

They needed the history of the world – "If you want to change the world so much, then you may need to change the events in the past. Write everything you remember about the events throughout the years". Not only he wrote about his life as the Prince of All Monsters, not only he wrote everything he remembered, about Chara, about how living in the Underground was like, about everyone's hopes and dreams. He also wrote everything he knew about the past, everything Asgore and Toriel had told him, about the history of monsterkind. He could only go as far as a few years before his birth, he didn't know much about anything that came before then. ASRIEL described how six humans died, how their souls were the hope of finally getting out from underneath the mountain, and how the seventh human had freed monsterkind in so many timelines. Writing it all was like reliving everything once again.

And last, they needed a story.

-ooooo-

ASRIEL sat on the bench and stared into the purple distance. Lucia had once said they lived in the collective unconscious of the world, where Shadows roamed and people's hidden sides are out in the open. Many golden lines were visible through the clouds and fog, shining like beacons. Timelines, Lucia had said. He wondered if he would recognize any of those timelines if he saw the events in them. How surreal to think he could peer into one of those timelines and maybe see himself as a flower in them.

'You must not leave this manor' she had said. She said they were floating way above the ground and therefore they couldn't get down there, but he was pretty sure that was a lie. Sometimes, through the fog and purple atmosphere, he was sure he could see a very large shape – a mountain, he was sure that's what it was. He had a feeling it was Mt. Ebott. If he had the means to descend there, he would have.

It was hard to believe he was going to make it all change. On the bench he had put the humongous pile of paper where he wrote the contents of the game. Every scenario he could think about, everything he thought the monsters would say and do...to him it had seemed more like writing a roleplaying script than a story. It had taken him several weeks to think of every action the other player could take, and plan ahead according to that. Now all that remained was to turn the script into a board, and they would be ready to start.

But Lucia had said she wanted to wait, and she refused to say why. She said it wasn't the right time, and that they'd need to make corrections to the script. ASRIEL never thought it'd be simple to do this, but this was required much more planning than he expected.

'These games are a bit of a weird thing' she had said 'Witches make games based on the worlds and influence them, but most times those worlds were already in a lot of trouble.

For example, yours. It was already undergoing this entire mess caused by that child's ability to SAVE and LOAD, and we are now going to cause our own problems here. See? We aren't to blame for what's going wrong, but it's not like we're making things any easier for anyone'

She had said witches tended to use the same gameboard many times, but he planned to do this only once. Only one script...and they had to succeed.

"ASRIEL"

He turned his head around. Lucia was waiting at the back door of the manor. Having made sure he had seen her, she vanished. ASRIEL took the pile of paper and focused, in a moment disappearing right like she had done, and arriving to her study. The atmosphere inside was different this time. Although nothing had changed, the feelings of unease were stronger. Lucia was to a side, looking at the floor. When he left the script on the table, she looked up.

"Happy eighth year of being here, ASRIEL"

"Eight years...?" ASRIEL blinked. "It has been that long?"

"Yes. We're almost done with the preparations of this project. What's going to happen today is essential. Listen to me carefully and do what I tell you"

"I'm ready" he immediately responded. Lucia opened her hand, and there in a moment she showed something she had spent the last few years preparing while ASRIEL worked on the information for the game:

A SOUL. A white heart-shaped, ethereal object floated inside a small capsule an inch over her extended hand, shining brightly. ASRIEL had seen monster souls before, but it was the first time it wasn't under some situation he had orchestrated. He thought he had seen a small red dot in the center of the monster soul, but he chalked it up to some sort of reflection on the glass of the capsule. "Whose soul is that?"

"Yours"

Surprised, ASRIEL struggled to know what to say. He stared into the soul, stunned. "Mine?"

"You have no idea how much work it was to extract this specific monster soul. I mean it, this is _your_ soul – a soul from Asriel Dreemurr, from a timeline you have never seen before" she pushed the capsule towards ASRIEL. "You, ASRIEL, you will have this part of yourself back, and then we will continue"

"Why? Why do I need that for?" if she had offered the soul to him eight years ago, he would have accepted it without any hesitation. Now, after eight years, he wasn't sure he was entitled to his soul anymore. He was not the same Asriel Dreemurr he used to be. Eight years had showed him an entire mindset and possibilities he hadn't experienced before, not even as Flowey. He was a soulless monster who had lived in a tiny part of the collective unconscious, maybe he wasn't even a monster anymore. He was a witch. To receive the soul...

...it would be like pretending to be Asriel, wasn't it? As if he could be Asriel again.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not Asriel anymore. I don't need the soul; I'm not going to turn into a flower again" he decided to add, just in case: "Thank you for taking the time to get it, but I don't need it anymore"

Lucia stared at him blankly. It seemed she hadn't expected the rejection of the soul. She inhaled sharply through her mouth and took the capsule back. "...I see. I didn't think you'd embrace this new life so readily. These last few years you have surprised me a lot, ASRIEL. In a way I think I'm fond of you, more than I thought I'd be. Well done"

"Thank you" he thought she had understood, but slowly she started opened the capsule, aiming the mouth of the capsule towards him.

"...but I won't accept this new philosophy of yours" and, with a rough shove, she pressed the mouth of the capsule onto his chest hard enough to jolt the soul into him. ASRIEL barely had time to understand what had just happened before a very warm sensation spread through his body, it was like being under sunlight for the first time, or like sitting in front of a fireplace in a cold day. It was nice, pleasant, yet completely foreign. A flurry of emotions he had feigned for so long invaded him, overwhelming him. He didn't even notice he had fallen on his rear, clutching the spot where the soul had entered him, his fur standing on end. Lucia calmly lowered his head onto the floor while he was too overwhelmed to protest, and aimed a single finger at his chest.

"And now to get rid of your 'plus one'" she moved her finger upwards, and that was enough. As if it had been fished out, a red human soul came out of Asriel, straight into the capsule she had brought the monster soul in.

That was all ASRIEL saw before falling unconscious.

-ooooo-

If someone had told ASRIEL he'd have to get used to this situation, he wouldn't have believed he would ever undergo it, yet here he was, trying to cope with it:

There were two Asriels in one single body. What was even stranger: one was younger than the other. Even though the younger one – the one the monster soul brought into him – was more like a conscience instead of a second personality or anything like that, it had also brought along a deluge of emotions and memories he hadn't expected.

ASRIEL had never met the six humans who always died in the Underground. The other Asriel knew them, and what was more, felt a degree of affection towards them. ASRIEL didn't have good memories of the human city above the surface. The other Asriel was fond of it despite the bad memories he had of it. ASRIEL had never flown in a plane, experienced real rain, or saw animals other than birds and insects. The other Asriel had done all that and more.

It was very difficult to come to terms with the fact he had all those memories he couldn't relate to, and all those feelings and emotions he had never felt.

Soon he understood the reason why Lucia had waited until he had received this soul back. He had been told to reread the script and everything he had written, and make corrections. What had sounded like a logical suggestion to improve the script turned into an entire ordeal that prompted a rewriting of more than half of the script, for a simple reason:

He had emotions.

ASRIEL reread the script, feeling the guilt settle inside him when he noted everything he had been planning to make the monsters go through, what the other witch's piece would have to endure, and what his closest friends and his parents would experience. Frisk, Chara, Toriel, Asgore, they all got their problems reduced and were given more moments of happiness to compensate for the hardships he'd make them endure. Not only that, he also gave as many monsters as possible ways to achieve what they wanted and be happy. He hoped his opponent would try them.

Arranging the humans to survive in the Underground despite being surrounded by monsters was easy. All the memories he received showed him their personalities. He was able to nudge all of them into situations where they wouldn't get their souls taken – mostly thanks to Toriel. Even though it also caused everyone in the Underground to be dissatisfied, without any souls that could give them hope.

All that remained was to direct his opponent to succeed in the game. He had left plenty of ways to win, many opportunities to succeed. Only someone incompetent would lose against him – he hoped, mainly because he didn't understand very well yet what the challenges Lucia suggested were like. Those were a recent addition.

"Personas?" he had asked. Lucia had been dusting off the glass case that contained the horned canine skeleton, explaining to him what Personas and Shadows entailed. He wasn't sure he understood everything, but it sounded well enough to convince him to put that in the game. "Do they really have one? Dad and Mom and everyone?"

"No, what they have is Shadows. Everyone has Shadows, not everyone has Personas. To get a Persona you have to tame your Shadow in some way"

"And the way we're going to shatter the barrier is by defeating twelve of those Shadows" he repeated what she had said not too long before, trying to understand it.

"Not exactly, but close enough. You'll lead them into each of these twelve, you'll orchestrate the fights, all that"

That had sounded simple enough. ASRIEL tried to ignore the case of bones, it kind of creeped him out. "That means we have Shadows too?"

"We don't. I told you, we're part of the collective unconscious, and we exist here because we _are_ like our Shadows, more or less. That means we don't have any"

ASRIEL didn't understand at all. Part of him wondered if she was intentionally trying to confuse him. "What about Personas?"

"That we do have. You have a Persona even if you didn't realize it" Lucia left the rag aside, she led ASRIEL away from the case. "Focus. There's something inside you"

"It's myself"

"No, I'm not talking about him. I mean you need to take a good look at yourself. You know who you are, you know how you're like and what you're capable of doing.

Embrace it all, feel like you can use that knowledge of yourself to keep going on"

Easier said than done. ASRIEL obeyed nonetheless, closing his eyes and focusing. He hadn't thought about that in a long time. Who he was, what he would do...it felt like an image was forming in his mind, something that felt alien and familiar at the same time. He told that to Lucia, who nodded. "That's your Persona. It's what represents your personality and who you are. The Persona can be used to fight and support others. Try calling it forth. It'll feel like a name resonating in you.

Focus and unleash it!"

Kind of curious how this so-called representation of himself would be like, ASRIEL obeyed, It took him a moment, but soon a bright blue light appeared in front of him, quickly enlarging into a figure larger than himself, with four arms, far different from what Lucia expected. She stared at the Persona, with her mouth open in surprise. After a minute, she recovered enough to talk.

"That Persona...that Persona is..."

The name Lucia said meant nothing to him. If it wasn't for her surprise, he wouldn't have thought it was anything special.

-ooooo-

"We're ready" Lucia said, serving ASRIEL tea and chocolate cake. Without restraining herself at all, she served herself half of the cake, while giving ASRIEL a much smaller portion. Near the cake there was a finished gameboard, shiny and having been just created from the script ASRIEL had made. Celebrating and smiling widely, Lucia was raising her cup high in the air, as if she was about to toast with champagne. "Good job, ASRIEL! I have no words to express my gratitude!"

It was hard not to feel proud when she was praising him so much. ASRIEL was already munching his cake portion like it was the last cake in the entire world. He wiped the crumbs off his snout with the back of his hand.

"We're going to play tomorrow, right?"

"...no, not really. You're not going to play this game with _me_ "

ASRIEL frowned. "What? Then with who? I thought we'd play and shatter the Barrier"

"There's someone else in this manor, another guest. Just like you, I picked him up from your world, and I trained him just like you did. Thirty years, in fact. He isn't nearly as good as you, to be honest"

If it was from his world, then maybe he knew that person. His first thought was that it could be Frisk or Chara – a strong desire to change something, and they were familiar with LOAD and SAVE. "Who is it?"

"I named him Sisyphus when I brought him here – like the Greek myth about the man who pushes a boulder up a hill, and keeps being pushed back. A senseless endeavor where you don't progress, like what he was doing when I found him" it made that person sound a lot more than Frisk, although ASRIEL saw nothing senseless about it. "His name before I picked him up was Patta. Does that sound familiar to you?"

"No—" _Yes!_ Immediately, the other Asriel piped up. An image of some human ASRIEL didn't know filled his mind, linking that to the name he had just heard. That person had never been in the Underground before, he was sure of that. "Who is he?"

"He's someone who used to be working on the same thing than you, right from the void where he ended after he and Gaster went in there. You know how that goes – you stop existing. How he got there is a long story, what you must remember is that he has the same objective than you. He's going to try his hardest to win, and your objective is to not let it happen"

"But we're working to do the same thing!"

"ASRIEL, it's a game. The point of a game is that one side loses and the other wins. You already set the ground for the liberation of all monsterkind, now it all depends on him, and don't even think about playing badly. If you play badly, you'll just ruin the game, and all the work you put will be lost. Have I made myself clear?"

Those were way too many stipulations, especially since he had never been told about it before. For the first time since a long time ago, he started feeling like he had gotten into some kind of unfair deal. "Yeah..." he muttered.

"There's something else we need to discuss. I believe you shouldn't show yourself without a disguise"

ASRIEL snorted, growing more unsatisfied with the arrangements. " _Why_?" He expected something along the lines of them not expecting an eight-foot-tall goat taking part in this, and knowing firsthand how badly someone could react to a monster when they don't expect it, he wouldn't argue even if it did sting such measures could be necessary, but that wasn't what Lucia was talking about.

First, he felt that Patta, Sisyphus or whatever he was called, wouldn't be surprised. It didn't make sense to try to hide he was a monster. Then Lucia shook her head: "You see, he knows you. To put it plainly, he has an almost unhealthy fixation about helping you. I don't know how he'd react if he found out you're here, safe and sound, and it'll get in the way anyway. It's just to avoid trouble, okay?"

"...fine..." not completely convinced but kind of seeing the logic, ASRIEL decided to agree, even if he felt disappointed. He wanted to meet this Patta guy and see why in some other timeline he had become friends with him, that wouldn't happen if he didn't know it was him. "You want me to change my appearance?"

"Yes, but you don't have to force yourself to do that. There's not much time for that, so we're going to use this" in her hand a brooch appeared, in the shape of a firefly, shining ominously in the dim light of the study "I made this. It's a brooch I channel my magic into. Pretty complicated stuff, took me a long time to get a grip on it" she slid it towards ASRIEL. "If you keep this on your person it will change your appearance to the eyes of anyone – only your _appearance_ , so you better not let yourself be touched"

It wasn't that farfetched there could be magic that could do that, although he had a hard time thinking this kind of magic existed in the Underground. He took the brooch, examining it carefully. "How will I look like?"

"That's what we're going to decide now. If you allow me a few suggestions, I have a few pointers to give you..."

The end result was an appearance ASRIEL felt was intended to be very similar to someone specific in Lucia's mind. An acquaintance, perhaps? A tanned and large man, with blond hair, overall looking disheveled and completely unfitting in the relatively opulent parlor where they'd play. ASRIEL at least got a word in edgewise about how he wanted to look – he convinced her to give him a sizable mane of hair. He had always liked his father's hair; this was the closest he'd be to having something similar without modifying his appearance for real.

"Yes, like this. I don't think he'll ever suspect someone who looks like you were picked up from a random alleyway is the Prince of All Monsters. Like a prince and the pauper thing, you know?"

"I don't really know" he had the feeling she was referencing it wrong, anyway.

"Whatever" she walked around him, examining the illusion ASRIEL was hiding behind of, and tried to pass a hand right over the top of the illusion's head. Her hand hit ASRIEL's neck, unseen and invisible. "Keep him away from you at all costs, this is far from a perfect disguise" Satisfied with the disguise, they sat again and continued eating. "Now, your name. Any ideas?"

ASRIEL thought for a moment. He seemed to have inherited Asgore's terrible naming skills, he couldn't think of anything. "Um...I dunno...Leirsa?"

Lucia kept her face neutral. "What."

"It's my name backwards. That should be enough, right?"

"Of course it isn't! Who would be fooled by that!" she sighed "As usual, I'm the one who has to make all the effort when it's about the logistics. How about Cornio?"

She had immediately decided to name his fake disguise after her dog. ASRIEL wondered if he should feel offended. Deciding it wasn't worth it to get into lengthy discussions about his name, he yielded. "Fine"

A heavy silence fell over the table. Lucia finished her portion of cake, delicately placing her hand over her ceramic plate. "You should rest, but before that, I recommend you take the time to say something to that Echo Flower you asked for. Something to cheer you up, because...let me tell you, sometimes there can be a lot of hurt feelings during these games. Go"

Still a bit confused by everything, feeling he had no other choice, and wondering how he hadn't seen Lucia's other guest during ten years, ASRIEL left the study. Once ASRIEL left, Lucia took the gameboard and, with a wave of her hand, turned it back into the thick script ASRIEL wrote. With only the slightest bit of hesitation, she opened it, took out a pen, and tampered with the delicate workings of ASRIEL's game. It was simple – just two sentences that would put in peril the world:

 ** _'The world will fall apart and be destroyed by its inner demons if one or both conditions are fulfilled:_**

 ** _1._** ** _120 days pass._**

 ** _2._** ** _Twelve Shadow Selves are defeated"_**

And to guarantee the complete destruction of the world in its entirety, she tied the existence of all timelines onto very specific Shadows in the collective unconscious. Let Sisyphus' piece destroy them, inadvertently destroying the timelines. It was nice, making others do the work for her.

"With this, the stage is set" Lucia said, turning the script back into the board. Her sabotage wouldn't be able to be removed once the game started, so she was confident even if ASRIEL somehow noticed something was wrong, he wouldn't be able to do anything.

All she had to do now was sit back, watch, and reap the fruits of her labor.

-ooooo-

ASRIEL shook his head, snapping out of remembering moments from the last ten years. It had been quite some time, and he had worked so hard. It'd be a shame to let it all go to waste. He disliked a lot what Sisyphus had done – to say the least – but everyone in the Underground relied on him to help them, even if they weren't aware of it. He couldn't step aside and abandon them even if he was upset with Sisyphus. He had to trust him.

"ASRIEL"

He turned around. Lucia was walking towards him, hands behind her back. She stopped right beside him, she seemed to be a bit hesitant. "I thought you'd be in your bedroom"

"I needed to hear again what I said to the flower" he whispered, getting away from the flower to not ruin what it already had in it. "Lucia, I'm not sure I can do this. I want to free monsterkind, but what he did made me so angry I just...I just forgot about them. Was that bad?"

"I wouldn't say it was bad. There's nothing shameful about embracing how you feel"

"Even if everyone else gets in trouble because of me" He knew saying 'in trouble' was kind of an understatement. They would stay trapped in the Underground for a very long time! And although he would have searched other ways to help them, he knew this was his only option right now. It could be a long time before he got some other way. He had to grit his teeth and cooperate with Sisyphus. ASRIEL stepped towards the edge of the floating island, looking towards the golden timelines in the distance. Were there less timelines than before?

"Even if they get in trouble because of you. If it was about anything else I'd tell you to forget about it and do whatever you want, but..." Lucia raised a hand. She intended to do the same she did to Sisyphus – hold him down and coerce him into keeping the game going – but after a moment she sighed and put her hand down. She couldn't bring herself to do it. "...geez...I think you should give him another chance. Not for him, not for anyone in the Underground. Do it for yourself"

"For myself?"

"You have spent so long with this project it'd be a shame to waste it" she said. Even if she didn't want to admit it, she had gained some affection towards the former monster prince. She felt closer to him than she did with Sisyphus despite he being around for much less time. She had turned him into a replacement for friendships she once had. "So chin up and get ready to continue, alright?"

"I quit. Can I really return to the game?"

Lucia played with a strand of hair. "...okay, that may be a bit difficult. He'll suspect something's off if you approach him and say you want to continue. I said I wouldn't meddle, yet here I am, meddling like the meddler I am..."

Something about her tone made him have a bad feeling about all that. She seemed a bit too carefree, like she wasn't worried at all. That could only mean she had something in mind already. Knowing her, it wouldn't be simple or straightforward. "What'll be the plan?"

"How about you fight him? Challenge him, tell him if he wins you'll continue playing"

ASRIEL chuckled. Of course. A fight. There was nothing straightforward about that. He would have preferred not to fight anyone, to be frank. "Would that really work?"

"The key is to make him feel like he earned it. That'll give him motivation to give his best during the game"

He considered that for a moment. He had stormed away from the game and left Sisyphus...that may have disheartened him. Even though ASRIEL thought he shouldn't feel any guilt about disapproving his actions, he felt some – mostly because he knew he had left the Underground trapped underneath the mountain. It didn't help that he wanted to make amends with Sisyphus.

It was worth a try.


	36. Death Arcana

**"Death is not a negative card. It's about cycles"**

 **"Cycles?"**

 **"About ending a part of your life and starting a new one. Just because it says death it doesn't mean it's bad"**

 **"So if I'm aligned with the Death arcana..."**

 **"It doesn't mean you bring death or anything like that. It means you're changing. All you have to do is to not resist it"**

* * *

Sisyphus watched the pieces moving by themselves all over the board. It was so strange, seeing that, but it was kind of nice. Day after day passed in the Underground. It had been a long time since he could sit back and just watch the world unfold. The movements of his own piece fascinated him the most. How he strived to create Flowey, how his friendship with Alphys deepened - he didn't think without his influence he'd gravitate towards Alphys. Did he like her the most out of everyone he had met, or was it just because without Alphys' help he couldn't have done anything? Sisyphus wasn't sure what his piece had been thinking. There were other things to be concerned about, anyway.

Lucia had said he should apologize to Cornio and convince him to resume the game. What he had done wasn't the kind of thing you could just apologize and call it a day. He had to compensate Cornio and try to make his stay in the game worthwhile somehow, but he had no idea how to do such thing. Stuck and having no idea what to do, he had drifted back to the board and gotten distracted watching it – until Cornio appeared in the room. Not long afterwards, Lucia followed him.

"Ah...good timing! We have to talk" Sisyphus said, deciding to take the plunge despite his lack of plan. If he didn't do it now, he'd overthink and take too long to talk to him. Cornio looked away. _Hm?_ Sisyphus felt no hostility from him, so why was he hesitating?

Seeing how Cornio wasn't replying, Lucia decided to direct the situation in the direction she wanted. "I talked to him and he had quite the interesting proposal. Since there's no way you would be able to apologize enough, he decided to give you a chance of proving yourself"

"Proving myself?" Sisyphus turned to Cornio "What's that supposed to mean?"

Cornio still needed a moment to compose himself. To Sisyphus it seemed like the man was engaged in some sort of internal conflict. _He must be swallowing his pride, I guess_. "I challenge you to a fight"

"A FIGHT?"

"No, not like that" he seemed to wish it could be a FIGHT. "A fight with our Personas"

 _Oh_. In terms of versatility, Sisyphus was sure he would have an advantage, but versatility meant nothing if Cornio had a lot of raw power. Although at first sight this seemed like a fair challenge, it was possible it would be extremely one-sided. "Here? Right now?"

"Yeah. Are you going to do it?"

"It's not like I have options here. I have to if I want to resume the game" Sisyphus nodded. "Let's do it"

Cornio didn't seem very happy. He just walked to the other side of the parlor. Lucia, being helpful, took the board with her to keep it safe. Before she stood aside, she approached Sisyphus, lowering her voice. "Listen, he's going to try his hardest. I know this means a lot to you, so don't lose"

"What's his Persona like?"

Lucia made an exaggerated face of concern. "It's amazing! Very strong. It's not the kind of Persona you'd think someone would have"

"Tell me weaknesses, resistances"

The Witch of Hope smiled sadly. "Okay, maybe you're screwed" and she left Sisyphus to flounder and rely on trial and error. _Thanks for nothing_. No time for hesitation.

On the other side of the room, Cornio seemed to have prepared himself for a battle already. Looking straight at Sisyphus and hiding well his hesitation, he called out. "Are you ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be"

Cornio nodded, looking like he was sorry and would rather not to do it, something that made Sisyphus think something was off. He barely had time to think about that when Cornio said, having decided there was nothing to do but get done with this:

"Shiva!"

A burst of bright blue energy flooded the room, so strong Sisyphus actually had to cover his eyes for a moment, and stumbled backwards until he hit a wall, surprised. Through the light he saw a large figure emerging from Cornio, large enough it couldn't even get off the floor without touching the ceiling.

Even someone who knew little about mythology and religions had heard Shiva's name before. He never thought someone could have a Persona based on such a known deity, much less that now he would have to fight it. Wondering if maybe he was way over his head, Sisyphus stepped forward. Either he dared to do this, or the game was over and he would have failed.

He looked at the form in front of him. Three eyes, four arms, hands holding different objects, the largest one being a trident, black and white patterns covering the visible surface of the Persona, horns, thorny vines enveloping its forearms...it was hard to know exactly what kind of elements it had to attack, and which ones Sisyphus should use. Neither Cornio nor his Persona moved, he was waiting for Sisyphus' move.

Deciding to go ahead and start the fight, Sisyphus summoned his own Persona, deciding to go with the one that represented him. Ouroboros appeared above him. Although it was much weaker than his other Personas, he thought it should be okay as long as he didn't get hit. Cornio, unfazed by Ouroboros, still refused to move. _He really is waiting for me to make the first move!_

"Come on, move!" he shouted at Cornio while Ouroboros' chains rattled, the air freezing around Cornio. He shook his head, almost disappointed. The air formed ice, covering him, yet it was like he felt nothing. "What?"

"He's immune to that, unfortunately" Lucia piped up.

"About time you said something!" Sisyphus snapped, deciding to go for darkness. Same effect: nothing at all.

"Nullifies that too"

 _There has to be something I can do_! Was that why Cornio refused to do anything? Because he knew there were few elements that could harm him? Upset and frustrated, Sisyphus reduced Cornio's defense, just so using Ouroboros wasn't a complete waste, and changed his Persona.

It turned out trying to find anything that could affect Cornio was an ordeal. Thanks to his Persona, many attacks Sisyphus tried did nothing productive.

"Neko Shogun!" the cat with shogun clothing tried psy spells. The air around Cornio shimmered, colors forming around him, until it coalesced right around his head. Instead of achieving nothing, it seemed like Cornio thrived from that, absorbing the attack and shining brightly for a moment. Fearing he had made Cornio stronger, Sisyphus immediately changed.

 _Pyro Jack!_ Fire got the same result. Cornio smiled at him with what Sisyphus interpreted as something very close to pity.

 _Decarabia?_ the pentagram zapped Shiva with a strong thunder. All that got was Sisyphus receiving the brunt of it, it had bounced right off it his opponent. _No fire, no ice, no electric, no psy..._ He had one last option. If it didn't work, then he had to resort to hitting him with physical attacks, and he had no good way to do that unless he tried to punch Cornio right in the face. If he decided to use those, he would put himself at disadvantage. Hoping it would give him a breakthrough, he summoned the best Persona he had.

Yamata-no-Orochi formed behind him, the large eight-headed serpent filling his side of the room. If Cornio aimed at the Persona instead of at him when he attacked, then it was likely it'd hit. Bracing for the worst, Sisyphus aimed with a wind spell, a small cyclone forming underneath Cornio and immediately sprung upwards, enveloping him, he recoiled in pain. "Finally!"

"...yeah...finally..." Cornio straightened up, with the face of someone who couldn't delay anymore something unpleasant that needed to be done. Cornio hid behind Shiva, and said rather loudly, calling his attack: "Thunder Trident!" Shiva leaped forward, electricity crackling in its trident, swinging it towards Sisyphus. Sisyphus grabbed it with his bare hands, pushing forward while the electricity flowed through him, feeling merely like ants crawling all over his arms, his hair spiking up to all sides. Realizing electricity wasn't going to work, Shiva swung the trident upwards, the movement slamming Sisyphus against the ceiling of the room, flakes of plaster covering him. Winded out by the slam, he tried to focus, trying to envision what his Persona should do.

Defenses first. If Cornio had so many resistances, then he should try to have the same. The serpent waved a head towards Sisyphus, a red mesh covered Sisyphus while he hung onto the trident, letting go so he'd fall on Shiva. It was unlikely Shiva would use fire, but it was worth a try. "I'm sorry for that!" Cornio shouted, Shiva vanishing and appearing behind him again, Sisyphus falling to the floor on his hands. Arms sore, he grabbed the chair he had been sitting on, trying to ram Cornio with it, trying to make him lose his concentration, all he got was Cornio grabbing onto the armrests to push back. The two kept pushing each other, trying to get the upper hand, until Sisyphus managed to do so, Cornio getting the chair pushed onto his torso, pressing him against the floor.

"Gotcha!" Sisyphus said, reveling on the fleeting victory moment before Shiva acted, grabbing Sisyphus from the back and throwing him towards his Persona, Sisyphus hit the many heads and sank between them, feeling a pang all over the inside of his head. _Magic isn't going well, attacking close-quarters isn't going well, what am I supposed to do?!_ Desperate for a plan and at a loss, his Persona vanished while Sisyphus shakily stood up, glaring at Cornio.

"We don't have to do this for long. Fire...Shield?" Cornio said, moving a hand over the floor, a line of fire magic emerging from it, forming a wall to keep Sisyphus away, and without giving a moment for him to rest, a whirlwind appeared above Shiva, everything in the parlor rattling from the strength of the wind. "Magic Cyclone!"

Thinking fast, Sisyphus changed his Persona back to Pyro Jack and jumped through the fire, again trying to get close to Cornio, hoping that would make him change his mind about his attack. Slowly, the whirlwind vanished while Cornio braced for contact, Shiva didn't move while Cornio was taken aback by the sudden approach.

"W-Wait!"

"Gotcha!" Sisyphus repeated, grabbing Cornio by the edges of the lapel of his frayed coat and holding him. Cornio thrashed and writhed, very alarmed about having Sisyphus so close to himself and finding out something was off about him if he made a wrong move.

Cornio moved his hands as if he was going to try to take Sisyphus' hands off him, unsure if he should touch him "Let go!"

"I'm sorry, I have to win!" Sisyphus said, trying to throw Cornio down onto the floor. Beating Cornio up was something Sisyphus wanted to avoid, just holding him down should count as a victory, right? The sound of claws scraping against marble sounded from below. Surprised, Sisyphus looked down to the floor, to his and Cornio's shoes, not seeing that could have caused that noise, chance Cornio used to get away. With a shove, he pushed Sisyphus away and faded into air, appearing back on the other side of the parlor, grabbing the one seat that was left and holding it in front of himself like a shield.

The attempt to defeat him rattled him. Despite having agreed with Lucia to lose and resume the game, he hadn't expected Sisyphus to get so close, so much he could maybe touch fur and notice his appearance was a disguise. Sisyphus was foolish but he wasn't stupid, he would notice this was similar to what his piece's disguise. The panic led him to move without realizing, all he could think for a moment was about keeping him away.

Many embers formed several circles around himself, floating in the air and moving at high speeds. Even if Sisyphus was immune, he hoped the amount of fire would keep him away somehow. "Ice...ice...something!" he couldn't think from the top of his head something that sounded decent for an attack name. Shiva also raised all its arms, thick needles and veins of ice emerging from its palms, filling the air around Sisyphus and enveloping him, restraining his movement and reducing the air to freezing temperatures. Having a Persona weak to ice, he felt numb, freezing cold, like everything in him was replaced with ice. Sisyphus struggled to stay on his feet, dizzy and shivering. Shiva raised the trident, conking him on his head.

Pain coursed through Sisyphus' skull while he stumbled through the needles to the wall, he held a hand where he had been hit, glaring at Cornio on the other side of the parlor, barely seeing him through the flames. _I can't win._ _He has too much versatility!_ That and very few weaknesses he could exploit. Without a way to attack, it'd be matter of time before Cornio defeated him. He had to think quick!

"...you can give up any time you want?" Cornio glanced at Lucia for a moment. Should he have said that? It sounded good. Lucia smiled awkwardly. Giving Sisyphus a reprieve, he waited for him to stand up. "Are...are you okay?"

"I'm fine, I just needed to rest" Sisyphus said, unable to hide how badly he was doing. He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. So far all of his strategies had failed. He lacked power. Maybe if he could just hit him without fail... "Here I go...!" his last resort option was physical attacks. It would drain his stamina and leave him vulnerable when he tried to heal himself, but it was the only thing he could do!

Hoping it'd work, he summoned the last Persona he had. Sisyphus retreated to the wall, staying close to it and leaving it all to the Persona that burst out of him. Oni raised its blade, roaring. Cornio nodded, making sure Shiva would stay in front of him at all times, and moved his Persona forward. Oni swung its blade, hitting Shiva across the knees. The Persona didn't react at all, Cornio did. He doubled over, pained, and having given up on trying to think of names for attacks, tried to hit Oni with Shiva's trident.

The demon parried the trident with the blade, over and over, the three, four times Shiva tried to attack with it, pushing Sisyphus more and more into the floor, until he was lying down. On the fifth attempt, Oni's blade acquired a white shine, when Shiva's trident was parried again, an explosive force hit back, Shiva had to back off, Cornio leaning against the wall. He had judged that lucky moment was enough to give Sisyphus the illusion of having won. "Wait!" he pleaded.

Thinking he had cornered his opponent, Sisyphus decided to give a decisive blow. Hurrying in case Cornio got an ace up his sleeve, Sisyphus raised a hand and slammed the floor. Oni roared, lifting the blade with both hands, aiming at the stunned-looking Shiva, and hit with all the strength it had.

It was like hitting a steel plate. A dull _twang_ echoed in the room, Shiva didn't move at all. For a moment Sisyphus panted, weakened, and looked intermittently between Cornio and Shiva, hoping it had actually worked. After a few seconds Cornio slid down the wall until he was sitting on the floor, Shiva fading away. "I give up..." Cornio said. Sisyphus didn't dare to say something as silly as 'really?', he kept waiting, like he thought Cornio was pretending to have lost, just to attack when he turned his back on him. A minute of staring passed before he brought himself to say something.

"Wait, seriously? I won?"

"You did. We'll resume the game"

Relief flooded Sisyphus. He had done it, he had salvaged the situation and brought the project back from the brink of disaster! Oni faded too, the fight over, and Sisyphus walked to the couch lying on the floor. Dusting the pieces of plaster off it and examining the wood and cushions to see if they had broken it, he put it on the floor and sat down to the couch, almost in disbelief he had succeeded. Not long afterwards, Cornio joined him to the table, looking conflicted. Lucia put the board on the table, smiling, pleased as punch.

"By the way, don't think either of you is getting out of here without cleaning the mess. Look what you did to my ceiling" she said. Even though she was smiling, they both knew she meant it. Cornio nodded, ashamed.

"I'm sorry, I will fix that"

Another heavy silence. It wasn't like before the incident they had been chummy and getting along amazingly, but they hadn't been in such uncomfortable and awfully stuffy silence ever before. Sisyphus knew that was his fault, it was his decisions what led to the current atmosphere. He swallowed, taking a deep breath, and finally said:

"I'm sorry" Lucia and Cornio looked at him "I'm sorry I was so stupid. There's no excuse about how flippant I was about everything. The idea if sacrificing someone I want to save should have never crossed my mind. That was horrible and I'm ashamed I did it" Sisyphus sighed. "I know saying sorry won't fix it, and now it's too late, but if there's something I can do to compensate what I did then please tell me, I'll do anything"

Cornio shook his head after a moment of staring. "There isn't anything you can do"

"...I see" Sisyphus knew it couldn't be as easy as just doing something and everything would be okay, but hearing that stung. Cornio added:

"I can't say I forgive you, but I'm not going to shun you for that. I'll just believe if it had been any other situation you wouldn't have done it" Cornio absentmindedly placed his hand over his heart "I want to believe that"

Saying he wouldn't do it ever again wouldn't be meaningful, so Sisyphus kept his mouth shut. Judging by how the social link between him and Cornio still was reversed, he wasn't forgiven, just like he had said.

Now that Sisyphus had apologized sincerely, Lucia and Cornio were a bit more willing to continue. The three witches observed the board, assessing the current situation.

"It seems your piece has been hard at work" Cornio said with a steely edge to his voice when he realized what Ciruel's soul had been used for. Sisyphus prudently decided to say nothing nor point out his piece had done that from his own volition.

Lucia rubbed her chin. "We're going to have to modify the story to make Flowey fit in it"

"I'd rather not"

"Are you sure? That'd make him a bit of a wildcard. You don't know what he could do or why. All interactions everyone will have with him will be completely out of your influence"

Cornio nodded, there was no reluctance in him. "I don't want to get him in any plans. Let's continue like he's not here"

"That's reckless, but okay, you're the boss here" Lucia watched the board a bit more "Quite some time has passed and your piece has used the SAVE and LOAD abilities a few times. Right now it's been almost two weeks in the Underground since last time we played. I see he has done some useful stuff"

The updated Social Links were pleasing to see. Sisyphus smiled, liking how far some of the links had progressed even though he had done nothing. "What about more pieces for the weapon Alphys is making?"

"No progress on that. You shouldn't be surprised, Cornio is the one who gives you the chance and you make it happen. Without the both of you—"

"There would be no targets" Sisyphus nodded. "Alright, let's continue the game"

Cornio's eyes widened, he had realized something that could be a problem. Alarmed, he stood up, took Lucia from the long sleeve on her arm, and took her outside while Sisyphus watched, baffled. Cornio and Lucia left the parlor and closed the doors so they could talk without interruptions. "What? What's wrong?" Lucia asked, not bothering to hide her exasperation.

"Ciruel was supposed to be the next team member! He can't join now, and you know why!"

The Witch of Hope blinked, tilting her head. "Oh. Right...he can't progress the Social Link anymore, and he can't restart it either"

"What are we going to do? He needs another team member soon!"

"Ciruel was just going to be navigator, anyone can do that role" she said, shrugging "Just assign the role to any random person"

"He's not going to make a Social Link with any random person!" they couldn't force Sisyphus to pursue a specific Social Link, but for Cornio's plans they needed him to progress into a link before setting up the trip into a SOUL. Lucia pouted.

"You should have made Alphys happen later in the script instead of at the beginning. We could have turned her into the new navigator" still, this was a problem that needed to be solved. She closed her eyes and started thinking of a solution. Someone who could join the team with a Persona and take part of that...

"Hey, what about you?" she heard Cornio say.

When she opened her eyes, she found he was looking at her. "Wait, come again?"

"You! You know what's happening, and you have a Persona already. You could be the navigator!"

Lucia fiddled with her blindfold, for once unsure of what to say to that. After a moment to regain her wits, she chuckled, hiding her nervousness. "That's a good one, my boy. I can't take part in this"

"Why not?"

"Because this is _your_ game! And Sisyphus' game! I'm just his assistant, giving him info about the Shadows and enemies he encounters"

"Yeah, exactly! Just like a navigator does! You can be an official part of the team!"

"I don't want to. I don't even have a piece to place in the Underground. Without a piece—"

"You could take a monster that already exists. There are many! There should be one fitting for you to move through and be a part of the team. Please, you have to try!" Cornio joined his hands together and put his best puppy eyes impression. It was unnatural and strange to see it in a grown human who didn't have much cute on him instead of on the goat that disguise was concealing, but it was enough to again catch Lucia off-guard. She made a noise like she was being strangled, wracking her brain for a response, until...

"F-Fine..."

"Really?"

Lucia's mouth formed a thin line, realizing what she had just said. She had agreed to it. She could back off, pretend she had gotten cold feet and didn't want anything to do with it, the problem was that it could get Cornio to wonder what was wrong. He'd ask questions, and her constant refusal to explain could get him to suspect something was off with Lucia. She had noticed he wasn't enthused about the whole thing; it was possible he already thought she was hiding something.

She had to play along. "Yeah, really"

Cornio looked really happy. He hurried to the doors to the parlor, chattering all the way. "Great! I'll pass you the list of monsters, and then I'll modify the script to include whoever you choose! Come on, we have to work on this!" he opened the doors and rushed inside, leaving Lucia straggling behind.

In all her thousands of years of life, she had a lot of success in her plans because she made those plans carefully and followed them to the letter. What happened just now was something she hadn't predicted, something she hadn't made any counters for. She would have to improvise from now on because she had no way to envision how the situation would progress.

And Lucia was awful at improvising.

She had to be prudent or else her carefully concocted plan for this world and its demise would go off the rails, and that was something she wanted to avoid at all costs.

Failing would have...consequences, after all. Confused and lost, she entered the parlor again.

 **GAME RESUMED**


	37. Good Intentions

**Day 44**

It wasn't like Syphus had much time to think about being once again under his master's command. He knew it meant things were back to..."normal". Sooner or later someone would fall down again, and he would have to go into a soul and fight another Shadow Self. Who would be the next one? What would he do? Would that person be a new team member? He had spent most of the night awake, unsure what the next day would bring.

Cohen noticed it. When he returned the night before, after once another uneventful night as the guard of the village, he sat on his bed, rubbing his aching legs. "You look like you heard terrible news, Syphus. What's wrong?"

Syphus didn't get up from his mattress. He just kept staring at the ceiling, hands crossed over his chest. "Nothing. I just have a lot to think about"

"You know you can trust us with whatever's bothering you, right?"

"I know, I know. Trust me, if it wasn't a private matter I'd tell you" Hard to explain to anyone how you're just a piece for someone in what seems to you like an upper plane of existence.

Cohen didn't press further, all he did was say again the team would help Syphus with anything he wanted, he just had to tell them. They were a team, and they had to cooperate to achieve a common goal. The least they could do was lend each other a hand.

The next morning, when Syphus woke up, tired and wishing he had slept well, he found Cohen was waiting for him. The old man had taken a chair and sat in front of the entrance. "About time you woke up" Cohen said grumpily, glaring at Syphus as if he had done something wrong. _What? What did I do?!_

"Did I oversleep?"

"It's past noon. Undyne told me you have a lot of work piling up yet you're here, snoozing without a care in the world. How old are you, again?" Cohen asked rhetorically, frowning with disapproval "You can't be a proper adult if you don't take your job seriously"

"...thanks for the sermon" It wasn't really the first thing he wanted to hear in the morning, especially after sleeping badly. Cohen's expression softened.

"Sorry for giving you a hard time. There are other things I need to talk to you about" Cohen looked at the small clock on the table, crossed a leg over the other, and got comfy. It was going to be a long wait.

What followed was a long spiel about a variety of topics. About keeping the cottage clean, about Byssa saying Syphus should stop eating double rations, about Undyne's comments regarding Syphus' work ethic, about keeping the bags of armor and random trinkets stashed in his cottage, again about his work ethic...it was as if there was no shortage of topics to nag about. Syphus would be impressed, but being the target of all the nagging got rid of any admiration he may have felt.

After twenty minutes, Cohen finally took a pause to breathe. His ashen skin was slightly tinged blue, so much for a moment Syphus thought he was going to faint from lack of air. "Got it, I understand"

"I'm not done yet, young man. Respect your elders"

 _I'm not Annie, you know. I'm twenty-six_. He knew saying that would just make Cohen add 'respect your elders' to the list of grievances to discuss. Before Cohen could get a second air and pick the first random topic he could think to nag about, someone knocked on the door in a manner that clearly meant something was going on. Whoever it was knocked a few times, stopped, and then did it again, following a rhythm. Cohen exhaled with relief, stepping away from the door. "Finally. I was running out of ideas"

"Ideas?"

"To keep you in here before it was ready for you" Cohen opened the door, all surly demeanor was gone, replaced by a surprisingly earnest cheerfulness. Confused, Syphus stepped outside, Cohen pushing him in direction of the unfinished cabin that had been under construction since a few weeks ago.

It was finished now.

A new, rustic cottage was available now. The only windows were on the front wall, with bright glass embedded into the frame. The porch was covered with sawdust, Graham was sweeping it away while Byssa walked around the perimeter, examining the end results. When Syphus approached, staring at the cottage as if it was the first time he was seeing anything like it, they all looked up, welcoming him. "Look who finally woke up" Byssa greeted. Celia and Ananas were nearby. Ciruel was nowhere to be seen – it stung, but Syphus didn't have any doubts why he wasn't there.

Smiling proudly, Graham approached, opening his arms widely towards the cabin. "Look at this beauty! Not bad for a month and a week of work, eh?"

"I can't believe you built this by yourself!"

"I didn't. Byssa and I build the cottages, and Mom helps us when she's around. She's inside right now" Graham patted the wall. "This here is your new home"

He had figured that out quite some time ago, but hearing it made it much more meaningful. It was the confirmation he had been accepted in the community. That was now his home, the cottage he could say was his. He wouldn't have to sleep anymore in Cohen's cottage. "Wow..."

"In the name of everyone here, I'd like to give you a warm welcome into our village" Celia said, rolling her wheelchair towards Syphus "It took some time, but here it is: the place you can say is yours"

"It's not going to be easy living down here but you can rely on us for anything" Graham reminded him. Syphus and Cohen shared a conspiratorial look. They wouldn't ever find out if everything went okay their stay would be much shorter than they thought. Feeling a curious warmth in the bits of soul he had, Syphus smiled, touched.

"Thanks, guys. I really don't know what to say, I didn't expect..."

"You didn't think we'd have you sleeping forever in that old man's cottage, did you?" Byssa said, teasing Cohen. Said old man didn't seem amused at all. "Go inside already. We'll bring your stuff"

And so they did. Byssa, Graham and Cohen went to Cohen's cabin, intending to bring the few possessions Syphus had, while Ananas said she'd be at the sentry spot. Meanwhile, Syphus entered his new cottage, to check out how it was like inside. It was just like every other cottage in the village, but knowing it was all made for him made it all seem more comforting, homely.

The bare wooden walls were rough, like they had been recently cut. The floor was bare; the bedrock of the cavern was good enough as a floor. Graham and Byssa had gotten rid of the protruding rocks, leaving a mostly flat surface. In the center of the cottage there was a small basket filled with the same stuff everyone else in the village had – marked with his name with marker. Cutlery, plates, other basic needs that were now his.

Toriel was on the back, in a smaller room that seemed to be a storage. She had just organized some boxes for Syphus, including one that clanked and sounded like it had many metallic objects inside. Some of what she made recently, most likely. When she noticed Syphus was there, she turned around, smiling pleasantly. "Oh, Syphus, perfect timing"

"I heard you helped build this cabin. Thank you" Syphus said earnestly. Toriel waved a hand, as If that had been no big deal.

"It was nothing. Everyone needs their own space, and this is yours. Look, I already left a few gifts for you" she patted one of the boxes "I even made you a robe, like everyone else has. You're officially a resident of this village"

It was hard not to feel flattered. "Thank you very much! So, this box..." flustered because of the attentions he had been receiving today, he tried to change the topic "What's in it?"

"It's the armor you asked for. I think you'll find it'll fit you all better. When you're as old as Cohen, you need a bit more of padding to carry the weight of the metal"

Syphus didn't notice the implications of what she said at first. Only when he opened his mouth to ask how much gold they owed her it hit him. She _knew_. "W-What...?"

"Undyne told me. I'm afraid you can't fool me. I asked Undyne for the truth, and she told me a few details" The whole point of requesting armor through the Royal Guard was for Toriel to not find out who it actually was for, yet Undyne had gone and ruined that. He didn't understand why. Toriel added, conciliatory: "Please forgive her, I asked a lot of questions. We may have started to get along better recently, but she's still the captain of the Royal Guard, working for the royal family. It's expected of her to not deceive us"

"I guess so..." still, it didn't mean he liked it. "What did she tell you?"

"I know it's for you, Undyne, Cohen and Annie. You need armor 'on the down low', which is why you were asking for it through the Royal Guard. The materials you give me were found around the Underground. That's all"

Apparently even though Undyne had talked, she did keep the important parts a secret. What surprised him was that Toriel hadn't obtained the reason why they need armor in the first place. It was hard to imagine she hadn't asked that. Toriel adjusted her cape, pensive. "She did not want to talk about why you wanted armor. All she said was that I could trust you're not causing any trouble"

"We're not, I promise"

"I sure hope not. You're getting a child involved, after all" she looked him straight to the eyes. "You're not placing Annie or anyone else in danger, are you?"

"No, absolutely not" Syphus immediately lied. He was surprised it was coming easier to him each time. Toriel seemed to be trying to gauge how sincere he was, and, unable to determine if he was lying, simply nodded.

"Thank you for the reassurance" she seemed to not be convinced, so in another effort to distract her, Syphus tried to go into another tangent. Apparently that was his way to dodge the questions and topics that were inconvenient for him.

"Why are you making armor for the Royal Guard, anyway? No offense, but the queen isn't really the person I thought would make them"

Toriel noticed Syphus was trying to distract her, and although she wanted to find out exactly what he and the rest were getting into, she decided to humor him. "Indeed, there's a blacksmith specially hired to serve the Royal Guard, but I asked to be sent some of the work.

It's just a way for me to stay in contact with the Royal Guard and New Home despite living here in the Ruins"

"You haven't gone back to New Home?" he asked, as if he didn't remember he had seen two monthly speeches in TV from Asgore and Toriel.

"Of course I have. I may not spend more than a few hours there, but I go often enough"

"There has to be a better way to stay in touch and help them than this. New Home is also relying on you"

"I know; I just need time to compose myself. I don't feel ready yet to return home"

"You're not ready yet?"

"My subjects will understand. If I can't work for their best interest—"

Syphus pressed a hand against a crate, unsure if he should press on, but thinking he had to. "You _have_ to return"

"I do not want to talk to Asgore for the time being"

" _When_ will you do it, then?"

Toriel's voice had a tinge of contempt when she replied. It wasn't towards Syphus himself, but it was rather noticeable nonetheless. "When he admits his behavior has been unreasonable"

 _Okay, how to say this..._ "I don't know, Toriel. It's hard to think you're not the one being unreasonable"

For a moment Toriel seemed rather taken aback. She didn't expect such a straightforward response, especially coming from Syphus. She didn't react badly, instead saying measuredly once she recovered: "We're talking about the lives of everyone above the surface, and those of the monsters who will follow us. Asgore wants to use their souls to shatter the Barrier and wage war against humanity. No matter how you look at it that's unacceptable"

"I mean, that's a given"

"His war declaration on humanity was done in a moment of anger, I know he wouldn't be able to actually go to war" Toriel paused for a moment "No, that's wrong. Actually, he would do it but he would delay that moment as long as possible"

"So what exactly do you intend to do? Just...wait until Asgore changes his mind?"

"I tried to convince him, and decided to give him some space to think" she said delicately. Syphus held back the urge to roll his eyes. Toriel wasn't behaving rightly and she didn't seem to realize that – or she knew and was so stubborn she refused to change her mind. Neither of them was a good thing.

It was undeniable Toriel was a good person, and had taken this decision out of concern for the many lives that could be ruined or lost both in the Underground and on the surface, but she had a big flaw: she thought she knew best, and was willing to force things go her way if she thought it was necessary. At least she was willing to listen to dissensions instead of immediately shut them up, she wasn't so stubborn she would ignore what other people say. Still, it was the first time he had seen her be so stubborn she was putting _all monsters_ in jeopardy.

Maybe she didn't realize it. Trying to think of the right way of saying it, Syphus rubbed his face with both hands, making sure he'd be wide awake for what could be a troublesome discussion. "I really think you should return. I know he's doing something wrong, but you're causing as much trouble as he is"

"I am?" Toriel seemed a bit surprised. She hadn't realized, apparently.

"I don't mean to tell you what to do or anything like that, I just..." whatever assertiveness Syphus had vanished immediately. He wasn't talking to just any monster, he was talking to the _Queen of All Monsters_ , and he was about to rebuke her. Would he be capable of doing such a thing? He inhaled through his teeth, trying to get back the courage he had just a moment ago, but nothing happened. He was afraid.

Thankfully, Toriel noticed Syphus' doubts. She gently put a hand on her shoulder, encouraging. "I promise I'm not going to get upset by anything you say. Please speak your mind"

"Thanks..." that did help make him feel better. If she wanted to listen to him then he had to say it. "Look, it feels to me like this problem between Asgore and you is causing a lot of trouble to everyone in the Underground. Look at yourself. You're the Queen yet you're living in the Ruins, it's like you're in a separate world from everything else. Can you really watch over monsterkind and do what's best for them when you're locking yourself here?"

Toriel averted her eyes. "Of course I can. Being queen doesn't mean living in the castle, what matters is—"

"When's the last time you did something that wasn't for us humans? Other than making armors, I mean"

"The last time I did something for my subjects..." she stared at the empty wall. For a minute Syphus said nothing, waiting for Toriel's response. Once it was clear she couldn't think of anything, she folded her hands, embarrassed. She couldn't even look at him anymore. "I have made a mistake"

"Really?"

"Yes. I have left all monsters to their own devices instead of doing my duties as the queen. I have been irresponsible – and I hadn't realized it until now!" Toriel frowned. Despite her subdued reaction, her lips had curled in an expression of disgust. "I have chided Asgore in my mind for so long yet I have been neglectful!"

"I don't think it's anything unsolvable, I'm sure you can do it"

"I believe I can. I shall start working on this matter. For now I have to thank you. I believe I needed to hear it from someone else other than myself.

I admit it's not easy for me to realize by myself I'm not right. It's..." Toriel sighed "...let's call it a bad habit. Thank you for pointing out how wrong I am"

 **Toriel seems willing to correct her mistakes**

 **The Toriel Social Link has reached Rank 3!**

 **Your power to create Personas of the Empress Arcana has grown!**

"Right..." how was he supposed to word this tactfully? 'I told you so?' Absolutely not. 'That's a start' was a bit condescending, and so did 'good luck'. Or maybe he was overthinking it all. Still, he limited himself to asking: "What are you going to do now? Are you going back to New Home?"

"...no. Not yet"

Syphus raised his eyebrows. This wasn't really the response he hoped to hear. "Why?"

"It's not as simple as walking back into the castle" Toriel said "I ask you not to gossip about this. To be frank, it's something I'd rather not talk about" the 'with someone I don't trust enough', was kind of implicit – or at least that was the impression Syphus had. He had already pushed his luck being straightforward with Toriel. He knew she had a lot of patience, and she wasn't the type to get angry all of a sudden, but he didn't want to risk making her upset.

He wanted to know, though: "Is it something about the Ruins?"

"You could say that" Toriel replied "It's a personal matter – a family matter. It's a long story"

That narrowed everything down. It was likely it was related to the part of the Ruins she had actively taken measures to close down in this timeline. Given how the Ruins were open to everyone, that Toriel was living there, and how invested she was in keeping the humans in the Underground alive, he figured she had gotten more attached than usual to Chara's grave.

Hard to make a few humans' survival a priority without remembering the one human you couldn't protect, even if it wasn't her fault.

That wasn't something Syphus wouldn't be able to fix. Only Toriel herself could face her grief and move on, for the Underground's sake.

"So, about that armor" Syphus again took the reins of the conversation. No use in talking further about that topic. She already had taken the decision to make up for some of her mistakes, that was good enough for the time being.

-ooooo-

Doing once again her duties as queen should have been easy – and it was, there were just so many she had to take a moment to organize and prioritize.

Going in person to talk with the many communities spread throughout the Underground was the priority. She had to go see what they needed, and arrange everything so all the villages would receive what they wanted. She wasn't sure how well Asgore was taking care of the monsters. It was possible some had gotten less attention than others.

The Hidden Village and all the humans she had kind of adopted would have to be relegated to a lower priority for a while , but there still was something worrying her. She knew it was impossible anyone except Undyne and Monster Kid knew about the human village, that meant most of the humans would be safe, except one: that child people had been talking about recently. She had heard about them. She knew they had shown a lot of kindness towards all the monsters they had encountered, despite a rather rough first impression with the Royal Guard stationed on the way to Snowdin. Toriel had been rather relieved to hear that. The day before she had gone to Snowdin to try to meet the child, but they had already left the town and gone into Waterfall.

While helping the communities was the priority, nothing would change in the Underground unless she convinced Asgore to call off the war against humanity. The child was being treated with kindness from those they befriended, but nothing guaranteed the rest of the humans would be welcomed with open arms if the word about the Hidden Village ever got out. Getting Asgore to recant the war on humanity was important, and for that, she was already forming a plan.

That child was getting along with monsters, and was already widely known in Snowdin and part of Waterfall. It would be matter of time before they got through Hotland and into New Home. Something could go wrong along the way, though, and the thought of a child being in grave and possibly deadly danger made her heart ache. Toriel wanted to find them, and once she made sure they were safe and healthy, the two of them could appeal to Asgore. Maybe she could also ask a few other monsters to join them. Everyone's good word should convince the king – Asgore had many faults, but she knew he truly listened to monsterkind, for better or for worse.

Hoping she'd be able to find them soon, and wondering if it'd be too soon to take them to the Hidden Village, Toriel entered Snowdin. There was someone she had heard about, a skeleton who worked in a couple sentry stations and was always seen slacking yet still managed to do the bare minimum requirements of his many jobs. Maybe he knew something.

-ooooo-

The moment he swallowed the first and last bite of that spaghetti, Flowey wondered if maybe he should have gone with that Syphus guy. At least he wouldn't give him badly cooked spaghetti.

Unaware of how much Flowey regretted giving it a try, Papyrus awaited Flowey's opinion. His eye sockets were shining with hope; he was hoping he had improved. To his side, Ciruel watched with uncertainty, crossing his fingers the flower wouldn't spit it out and say something rude.

"It's good!" Flowey lied, smiling widely. "You're such a talented chef, Papyrus"

The compliment pleased Papyrus a lot. He looked between Ciruel and Flowey, vibrating with joy. "DID YOU HEAR THAT? MY IMPROVEMENTS TO THE RECIPE HAVE BEEN PRAISED! NYEH HEH HEH! I KNEW MASTER CHEF PAPYRUS COULD REACH NEW CULINARY HEIGHTS!"

"It really was an improvement. It was less chewy, and for once you could feel the taste of tomatoes instead of..." Ciruel's face scrunched up "...the taste of your gloves. I insist you should stop smashing the tomatoes with your gloves"

"UNDYNE SAID WITH THESE I CAN SMASH THEM MORE EFFECTIVELY"

"That I can't deny. Maybe the taste of glove is an acquired taste" hard not to smash a tomato with a glove five times bigger than it, it was practical. Ciruel was going to add something else when they heard a familiar voice outside – Papyrus recognized it from the televised speeches, and Ciruel from hearing it every week for years already. "It's the Queen!"

"OH NO! QUICK, HIDE UNDER THE DESK!"

"Calm down, there's no reason for her to think I'm here" Ciruel said, but hid under the desk nonetheless. Flowey watched this with some curiosity.

"What's going on? She doesn't know about you?" when he had asked earlier how Ciruel had arrived to the Underground and where he was staying, he had refused to answer, leaving Flowey to make guesses. He thought Ciruel lived in the shed, but maybe he had been wrong?

"Uh, she knows I'm here in the Underground but I sure hope she doesn't know I'm _here_ " even though he was a grown adult and could do whatever he wanted, in his opinion, he sure didn't want to disappoint Toriel or endure a speech about the dangers of leaving the Hidden Village. The former scholar put a finger to his lips and refused to say another word, while Papyrus went out of the shed.

Wondering what Toriel was here for, Flowey left the shed as well. Once he emerged between the trees close enough to listen without being seen, he tried to ignore the cold and focused on her voice.

"...the child left? How long ago was it?"

"just a couple hours ago. they'll be fine"

"MY BROTHER IS CORRECT! FRISK IS VERY CAPABLE AND CHARISMATIC, JUST AS MUCH AS ME. YOU CAN BE SURE THEY'RE OKAY"

"Hotland can be dangerous for a child without supervision. I shall find them as soon as possible and escort them the rest of the way"

Neither Sans nor Papyrus seemed too enthused about that – Sans hid it pretty well, only revealing it because Flowey saw how his back got a bit straighter and more alert, while Papyrus immediately started a 'UUUUH'. "Is there an issue?" Toriel asked.

"I THINK THEY WANT TO GO ALONE"

"you know how kids are. they like to do everything by themselves"

That wasn't convincing at all, but Toriel hesitated nonetheless. It was true they had survived and taken care of themselves so far. Still, she'd feel better if she could meet them at least once...

She didn't say a word about that to the skeletons. Instead she thanked them for their assistance and walked away, towards Waterfall. While Papyrus returned into the shed and Sans went to who knows where, leaving Flowey to think about what he had just heard.

A human child in Hotland. That meant a third human in the Underground – three out of seven that were needed. Had monsters gathered them? Were they waiting to have all seven before claiming their souls? Something unusual had happened while he was dead, and he wanted to find out what it was.

For now, finding the child Toriel and the skeletons were talking about seemed like a good idea. Without even saying goodbye to Papyrus and Ciruel, Flowey vanished into the icy soil, starting his way towards Hotland.

* * *

 **SOCIAL LINKS:**

 **Fool - Frisk - RANK 5**

 **Magician - Burgerpants - RANK 3**

 **Priestess - Alphys - RANK 7**

 **Empress - Toriel - RANK 3**

 **Emperor - Cohen - RANK 4**

 **Hierophant - Ciruel - BROKEN**

 **Lovers - ? - RANK 0**

 **Chariot - Ananas - RANK 6**

 **Justice - Undyne - RANK 5**

 **Hermit - Gaster - RANK 1**

 **Fortune - ? - RANK 0**

 **Strength - Celia - RANK 2**

 **Hanged Man - ? - RANK 0**

 **Death - Cornio - REVERSED**

 **Temperance - ? - RANK 0**

 **Devil - ? - RANK 0**

 **Tower - ? - RANK 0**

 **Star - Lucia - RANK 3**

 **Moon - ? - RANK 0**

 **Sun - Papyrus - RANK 3**

 **Judgment - Team - RANK 4**

 **Aeon - Syphus - REVERSED**

 **Jester - Alphonse - REVERSED**


	38. Search

"What do you mean the queen is looking for them?"

Cohen had been the one to get Papyrus' call. The skeleton hadn't sure what to do. He had returned to the shed and found Ciruel still under the desk, and Flowey nowhere to be seen. Ciruel wasn't able to tell him where Flowey had gone, and there was no way for them to know. There was something else to worry about right now, though.

"SHE'S LOOKING FOR FRISK?"

"Wait, who is Frisk?"

It was the first time Ciruel had heard about the child. There was an eighth human in the Underground! And they had somehow gotten away without even meeting Toriel before. He had thought she would encounter any human that fell in the Underground, yet apparently there was someone who didn't! Papyrus didn't have any idea about Toriel's efforts to find any humans that could fall Underground before they left the Ruins, and therefore didn't realize the significance of this, but Ciruel knew. It made him think something:

There may be another way into the Underground other than the hole in the mountain they all had fallen through.

That was the only thing that made sense! How else would you get away from the Ruins without Toriel knowing? It was hard for him to believe she had missed them otherwise. If there was another way into the Underground...maybe that could be useful information!

The military guys camping on Mt. Ebott needed to hear about this.

Ciruel leaned on the desk, rubbing flakes of purple paint off his hands, exhaling clouds of visible breath onto the cold air. Byssa and Graham were the ones to always make contact, so if he found out anything, he had to tell them. The only way to find out from where this new child may have used to get into the Underground was to ask this Frisk kid. "Okay, do me a favor, please. Tell me everything you know about Frisk"

He did. Papyrus informed Ciruel everything he kne-w about Frisk, about how Sans also knew them, and about how pretty much everyone in Snowdin liked the child. Ciruel's expression went from attentive listening to shock to a quiet disapproval. That kid had managed to befriend everyone, yet he hadn't heard anything about them until now! This was big news, and the first time he hears it was _a month_ after the child was seen for the first time in the town. What the heck?

No point in being upset, though. It wasn't like Papyrus could have known he'd be so interested in this. Besides, they had to focus on the current situation.

"We have to find them" Ciruel said.

"THEY'RE IN HOTLAND! I'M NOT SURE WE CAN GET TO HOTLAND BEFORE THE QUEEN DOES"

"You're right, I know you're right! I'm just saying we have to think of a way—"

"SANS! WE CAN ASK SANS! HE CAN GET THERE BEFORE US AND FIND HIM!"

It wasn't a bad idea! Sans already knew about Frisk, and Papyrus had once mentioned Sans had ways to move around in the blink of an eyesocket. The scholar wasn't sure what that was supposed to mean, but if he could do then that sure would be really useful right now! "You'll have to ask Sans. I don't want him to see me"

"I THINK HE ALREADY KNOWS WE'RE FRIENDS. HE MUST HAVE KNOWN FROM WHEN I SAID HOW MY FRIEND COUNT HAD GONE UP BY ONE"

Ciruel shook his head. "I can't take a risk like this. Look, you talk to Sans. Please don't say anything about me. I'm...no, _we_ humans are counting on you"

The encouragement was welcome. Papyrus left the shed to find Sans and talk to him about Frisk, hoping his brother hadn't already left to do nothing in who knew what part of the Underground. A few minutes later, Papyrus returned to the shed, his face telling Ciruel all he needed to know. "He left already" Ciruel found out, sighing.

"I'M SORRY. I'LL GO SEARCH FRISK MYSELF!"

"...no, that may not be necessary. I wanted this to be the last resort, but it'll be quicker than you running through Waterfall to get to Hotland in a minute flat" he stopped for a second "...although you'd be perfectly capable of doing that, now that I think about it. Anyway, do you have your cellphone?"

-ooooo-

Cohen was the one to receive the call. He listened to Ciruel's request: "Please let Graham or Byssa go find a human kid in Hotland". The reply was immediate: a very clear and vehement rejection. No way he'd let someone leave the village and put themselves and the rest of the humans in danger, he said.

"Where are you, anyway? Did you sneak out?!" he had shouted. Ciruel hanged up immediately, feeling stupid for having asked Cohen. Cohen, on the other end of the line, immediately called Undyne.

Having the captain of the Royal Guard as a friend had a lot of advantages. Cohen couldn't leave the village, and as soon as he ended the call he went to make sure Annie nor anyone else left – if Toriel was looking for Frisk, then maybe other monsters would be looking for them too, helping her. They just couldn't afford letting any monster see humans other than Frisk. He'd have to hope Undyne would find them.

She didn't waste any time. Undyne gathered all the guards that were currently at the headquarters, donning her armor. "All of you know about the human living in Snowdin. I heard they're in Hotland right now. Find them and bring them to me!"

"Does that mean we won't, like, try to take their soul?" 01 asked. Undyne immediately nixed this suggestion.

"No, don't. Bring them to me. I know it's strange, but you gotta trust me, okay? Just trust me"

Authority trumped whatever personal feelings the guards had. If Undyne requested them to bring the child to her, then they had to. Undyne assigned all the guards a different part of Hotland to check, and commanded 01 and 02 to block the quickest path to the MTT resort and New Home. Once everyone was given a role and they left to fulfill the orders, Undyne approached Syphus, who was staying to a side of the courtyard, watching everything. Nobody paid attention to them – the captain was going to talk to the storage assistant, it was nothing unusual. "You heard all that?"

"The Queen's looking for Frisk"

"That's not good, is it?"

"...I'm not sure" Syphus crossed his arms. The scales around his eyes creased while he mulled this for a moment. "Frisk somehow got past Toriel without she meeting them. I doubt that was an accident, so they must have a reason to have done that"

"Then the Queen finding them can't be good!"

"Maybe. To know for sure we'll have to ask them directly, and for that—"

"For that we have to find them first" depending on what Frisk says, then they could decide what to do. Undyne got an idea: "I'll ask Alphys to find them with the cameras"

"Good idea. I'll get going" once he made sure she had the number of the cellphone he had been lent, Syphus left to start searching in Hotland.

-ooooo-

Sans wasn't sure what exactly Frisk was doing or why they hadn't gotten through Hotland after three weeks already, but now that Toriel knew about them, he knew there'd be an entire crowd of people looking for the human child. That was going to be a thorn on Frisk's side. Sans liked the kid despite the ever present feeling something was off about them, so he thought he should do them a favor and help them not get overwhelmed, just in case.

As soon as Toriel left, Sans opened the door of his house, stepped inside, closed the door, turned around, and found himself right behind the counter of his hot dog stand in Hotland. Right! This was a good place as any to start searching for them.

"if i were frisk where would i be going through?"

The quickest route to New Home wouldn't be an option. Surely there would be someone waiting there to make contact with Frisk, and Sans surely couldn't just stroll over there and take the kid away. Hoping he was right and Frisk wouldn't risk going through the MTT resort, he decided to wait by his hotdog stand. He calculated the child wouldn't have passed through that area yet. Getting comfy and closing his eye sockets, Sans relaxed.

-ooooo-

Just like Sans had deduced, Frisk avoided taking the quickest route to the MTT resort. Also just like Sans expected, they were close to passing by the hotdog stand. The child waited for the elevator door to open, but once they did and the heat of Hotland filled the elevator, they didn't come out. Instead they sat on the floor. "New record?"

 _"This should be enough for today"_

"Really?" a bit of annoyance creeped into Frisk's voice. Once again, they had to stop for the day, and they still were so far away from the MTT resort it was like they hadn't progressed at all. That always was Chara's fault.

Chara wasn't willing to go into New Home. To stop Frisk from getting there, they had decided to convince them to stop in middle of Hotland, advancing just a little bit each time. Their excuse was that they needed time to prepare. That was a complete lie. Chara's real reason to avoid going into New Home to see Asgore was that they hadn't seen Flowey, and that Syphus guy's existence was something to be worried about.

They could feel something was very off, that there were reasons to be concerned something was very wrong about the world. They didn't want to continue since it could put everything they had worked for at risk. They had reached an agreement with Frisk, they had taken Frisk's soul and pretty much attached to them as a parasite, all to get out of the mountain once and for all when Frisk finally managed to get everyone out without rewinding everything back to the beginning. That was their condition in exchange for not destroying reality and everything in it.

And now something strange was going on, possibly ruining everything. They weren't willing to take any risks.

Frisk was running out of patience, thought. After a month progressing like ten meters each time, they still were pretty far away from New Home. It'd take them months to reach the castle, and they wanted to see Asgore as soon as possible. Chara had to think of a better excuse before Frisk decided to force them to continue onwards. They were still thinking what new excuse they could use when a familiar flower popped from the volcanic ground, shaking bits of rock off his petals.

"Flowey!" Frisk exclaimed, right when Chara noticed him. There he was! There was Flowey, finally a sign not everything was abnormal! Flowey turned around, and his eyes widened with recognition when he saw the child approaching him.

"Chara?"

The lack of recognition in his face and voice stopped Frisk on their tracks. "It's me, Frisk!"

Flowey chuckled, more in disbelief than anything else. "What are you talking about? You're..." his face fell. It couldn't be Chara...Chara was dead. He had seen it happen, he took their SOUL. It was impossible Chara could be here standing right in front of him, alive and kicking "I-I'm sorry, I think we haven't met before..." he lowered his voice, puzzled. "Golly, this isn't how I thought first contact would be like..."

"You don't remember? All the...the other times?" Frisk really didn't understand how this was possible. Once Flowey insisted he had absolutely no idea what they were talking about, they pressed their hands against their face, a chill running down their spine. Chara was eerily silent, too. Any relief they felt when they saw Flowey was gone.

This truly was an abnormal timeline, that was now confirmed.

"Aren't you going to explain whatever that was?" Flowey was just as confused as Frisk and Chara. Even though he knew this couldn't be Chara, they looked so familiar he just couldn't get it out of his mind. Before they could explain, they saw Sans not too far away, snoozing in his hot dog stand. Things could get dicey if Sans saw Flowey, unless the skeleton didn't remember who Flowey was, for some reason. At a loss for words, Frisk sought Chara's counsel.

"What are we supposed to do now?"

 _"We'll keep going, but first let me talk to him"_ for the first time since they had attached to Frisk, they received full control of their shared body. Flexing their fingers as if to confirm they really had control, they got closer to Flowey. "We can't talk here. See me in Snowdin"

"...why would I-?" he was starting to not want anything to do with the human child. It was bringing back memories he didn't want to think about.

"Best friends, Asriel. Did you forget about that?"

Hearing that didn't help him feel any better. Confused, kind of hurt, and on the verge of panic, Flowey sank into the ground. The way Frisk had said that was so familiar for a moment he felt like he had returned to the days he and Chara used to play around. Best friends, indeed.

Having guaranteed Flowey would meet him at Snowdin later, Chara returned control to Frisk, who said nothing about that. Chara clearly wanted to talk to Flowey, and they also wanted to see him again. Flowey was their friend, after all.

Even if for some reason he didn't remember them.

Saddened, they started walking. They had to return to Snowdin to talk to Flowey. Hoping for a quicker route than taking the elevator and going all the way back, they passed in front of Sans' stand. Right when they were in front of the skeleton, Sans opened his eyesockets, raising a hand in greeting.

"hey buddy. what's up? wanna buy a hot dog?"

-ooooo-

"053 says he saw them get on the elevator on the right side of Hotland. Are you nearby?"

"Yeah, I'm almost there!" Syphus said into the phone. Undyne had kept tabs on all the guards, all of them reporting to her if they checked a place and the human child wasn't there. Soon 053 caught a glimpse of the child, and immediately called Undyne. "Send my regards to him!"

"You know he won't like that" _Guess 053 will always have a bone to pick with me_. Once Undyne cut the call, Syphus entered the elevator, pressing the button to go all the way to the top. It didn't take him long to see Frisk in front of a sentry station with snow on the roof – Sans' hotdog stand, he noticed. Sans was right there. That's a problem. _Or was it?_ Sans was someone they could trust, wasn't he? There should be no problem with talking to Frisk about where why they were avoiding Toriel.

It seemed the hotdog business was going somewhat slow, judging by how Sans was piling sausages on Frisk's head instead of keeping them to be sold later. Syphus had approached slowly, still thinking how this conversation would Frisk could go, when Frisk turned their head around, their face lighting up when they see Syphus. Sans' grin widened a bit.

"sup."

"Hi there, you two" Syphus said, relieved they both were friendly. The skeleton left the bin of water sausages aside and stepped away from the hot dog stand, sighing contently.

"welp, i'll get going now"

"Why, Sans?" Frisk asked.

"you know how it is, kiddo, three's a crowd" Sans waved lazily and walked away without a care in the world. It seemed he had sensed Syphus wanted to talk to Frisk and left to not get in the way. Grateful Sans was so considerate, Syphus approached Frisk, who was walking around with his arms extended to the sides, trying to balance the sausages on their head.

"Come over here" he beckoned Frisk, grabbed the bin of sausages and resumed what Sans had been doing, Frisk amusedly staying still so Syphus didn't have trouble piling more and more sausages. "I think Sans doesn't like you" Frisk commented.

"Why do you say that?"

"He left. When someone you don't like arrives, you leave to not be near them, right?"

Syphus wanted to think Sans had left for a different reason, but he couldn't say Sans and he were friends. It was more like he tolerated him. Syphus shrugged, slowly placing a water sausage on the growing pile. "Yeah, many people don't like me, but that's life. You shouldn't expect everyone to like you, because there'll always be someone who won't"

"I like you"

Syphus smiled "Thank you, Frisk" it was nice in a way to have someone saying that with such ease. When the sausages got as high as Syphus he got on the roof of the stand, grabbing onto the wood of the roof through the snow. The child was completely still, trying to keep all the sausages on their head for as long as possible

"Syphus, if there are no SOULs, does that mean it'll be impossible to break the Barrier?"

Syphus stopped for a moment, thinking his words carefully. "Not really. I'm looking into it, but I'm pretty sure there are other options"

"Can I help you? I know what you're doing, I want to help you"

"I'm really sorry but you can't" not without a Persona, and even if they did have one, Syphus doubted they would be able to do something like fighting. Not even their Shadow self had attacked them, it had just summoned lesser Shadows. Not that it mattered now. Frisk had missed their chance to get their Persona.

Frisk didn't know it was because of that. They frowned, disappointed. "Are you sure you can do that alone? I have been here many times; I could help you"

"It'll be okay, I'm not doing that by myself" Syphus said. That disappointed Frisk even more. There was no way they could help Syphus now, that was guaranteed. Trying to hide how disappointed they were, he said:

"It's just that I want to do something. I just want to break the Barrier, my friends and I need to be over the surface..." Frisk looked at the ground, almost making the sausages fall, and muttered the core of the concerns that had fueled their Shadow's creation:

"...it's not like I can do anything else down here. It's all I have been doing over and over, and if I do something different it'll be...it'll be bad"

Syphus dropped the sausage he had been about to place on top of the pile, that had been a tough question "Bad how?"

"Bad as in...as in monsters die"

 _Oh_. Right...the times Frisk didn't save everyone things had gone less than favorably for monsterkind. To avoid that, they had to follow the same steps and actions. Frisk added: "Not knowing what's going on makes me nervous because I don't know how it'll end. You won't let anyone die, right?"

No way Syphus would say how things had gone after he had died twice before. "Of course not"

"You can SAVE. It's up to you"

Syphus placed another sausage. "Frisk, I don't know what to tell you. There's no way I'll let anyone die, I mean it, but..."

"I know sometimes things go wrong, I know that" Frisk said with vehemence "What's important is that you keep trying! You need to keep trying it over and over and never give up! That's what I want you to promise!

Please promise me you're never going to give up!"

There was only one good response for that. "Of course. I promise. Cross my heart and hope to die"

That satisfied Frisk. They smiled, relieved. "Thank you. Thank you so much. I'm leaving this to you"

 **You made a promise with Frisk**

 **The Human Child Social Link has reached Rank 6!**

 **Your power to create Personas of the Fool Arcana has grown!**

"What are you going to do now that I'm the one with this responsibility"

"I dunno..I want to see Dad...and I haven't seen Mom either..." Frisk mumbled.

That was a good way to segue into what he wanted to ask, but the mere fact Frisk had commented about seeing Toriel kind of indicated they hadn't intentionally avoided her. It felt to him like they meant they wanted to see her too. "You didn't see Toriel? I thought she was at the Ruins"

"When I passed through there I didn't see her, so I just passed through the door and got to the snowy forest"

 _...I can't believe this._ All that worry and pursuing Frisk and it turned out they had just walked out of the Ruins because Toriel hadn't been there right at that moment! That was the simplest explanation, and plausible given how she was the queen and didn't stay in the Ruins 24/7 in this timeline.

He felt stupid for not having thought of this possibility before. Syphus got off the roof, his face with a carefully neutral expression, feathers flat against his head. "I see. Well that's fine, you keep going"

"Did I say something bad?" Frisk moved and the sausages fell off their head, they sounded very concerned.

"No, it's not that. I just have to go do something else"

Frisk seemed hurt he was trying to leave without nary an explanation. "Oh...okay...I'll see you later" Syphus turned around to apologize, but Frisk was already leaving. Not too far away, Sans was waiting. Had he been there all along? He had gone into the elevator – oh, right. He had his ways of moving around. The skeleton said a few words to Frisk before extending his hand. Frisk didn't hesitate to take it and stand up, both friends walked away, vanishing in a blink of an eye.

If Sans heard everything they had talked, then he also heard how rude Syphus had just been. _This won't earn me any points with him, I guess._

-ooooo-

Frisk was content to stay in Sans' laboratory. The skeleton was treating them rather kindly, behaving as if it was no big deal at all. "stay all you need"

"I'm sorry, Sans"

"nah, it's no big deal. you have been around for like a month already, what's a few days more" Sans shrugged "just don't break anything. you know what they saw about bulls in china shops. or more like humans in secret laboratories"

They didn't know at all what he was talking about. It didn't really matter. What mattered was that Sans understood and wanted to help.

Frisk had said it was all a misunderstanding, that they hadn't been trying to avoid Toriel. In fact, they wanted to see her! It was just that right now they wanted some time to think. That was what Frisk wanted, because Chara insisted. Sans, on the other hand, was okay with that because he wanted to observe them for a while – just like he said: Frisk had been coming and going for like a month, and that was odd. Something was wrong, he just didn't know what it was.

Curiosity and some friendliness towards Frisk were his motivation.

Once he made sure he closed well the door to the laboratory so no snow would get in there, he moved to the living room couch, sinking into the bumpy cushions to relax for a while. He had barely gotten comfy when Papyrus burst out of his bedroom. "SAAAANS!"

"sup bro"

"DID YOU FIND THEM? ARE THEY OKAY?"

"sorry, paps, they got away. sneaky humans, all that. no wonder we haven't captured any"

Usually Papyrus would simply nod and agree, maybe groan and protest if he felt he was being teased. This time, though, he didn't move. He looked down, his gloved hands together into one tight ball. It was so unusual Sans immediately noticed his change in demeanor. "REALLY? YOU DIDN'T FIND THEM?"

"nope" he answered immediately. He didn't hesitate, he'd lie to Papyrus all that was necessary if it meant keeping him unaware of stuff that could lead Papyrus into trouble. It was ay he could do to protect his brother – in the end it didn't matter that much. He was still convinced that if anything bad happened, it'd be undone. Nothing mattered.

"OH. THAT'S...TOO BAD. THANKS FOR TRYING" in a hurry, Papyrus got back into his room, closing the door and leaning on it heavily. Now he was convinced Sans was hiding stuff from him. Ciruel had been the one to tell him it was likely he had been deceived by Sans before, when he said he was sure Sans already knew about Ciruel, and that he was pretending he didn't know.

And if he was pretending not to know about that, who knows what else he was pretending about?

-ooooo-

 **Day 45**

It wasn't unusual for Undyne to gather all the guards in the courtyard of the headquarters and spend time with them. As she said many times to Syphus: a team has to work together and bond. For that purpose, she often helped them, taught them how to move, even said if they ever had a problem she'd want to hear about it anytime.

She had just finished today's session. 023 had asked her to help practice magic, so she arranged a few other guards to give him a few pointers. Syphus had to change the targets over and over, taking the singed ones to the storage, dragging new targets onto the wall. It was tiring work, having to go back and forth, not having enough time to bring extra targets to not have to go to the storage again.

"Aiming is a matter of practice!" Undyne said, throwing a spear and hitting the exact center of the target. "It's going to take a while, but soon you'll hit whatever you want with your magic. Just keep practicing!"

"Got it, captain. I will" 023 said, saluting. He was happy Undyne took the time to give him pointers. "I knew I could rely on you!"

Despite the effusive praise, Undyne was humble. She refused to take any credit, simply saying she was showing what 023 would be capable of someday. Once 023 left, Undyne leaned against the wall, right beside Syphus. "That was fun"

"You really do everything you can to train them" Syphus said.

"Of course I do. They're my guards, I'd do anything for them" she turned her head towards Syphus. "And for those who want to be guards and don't come to my house at midnight"

"That's a little too specific"

"That's because it actually happened! That's something Papyrus did long ago" she grinned, remembering that fondly "It was like midnight, and I was already sleeping when I hear someone knocking on the door. I didn't want to get up, I just kept trying to sleep. I opened the door and Papyrus was there, still with his fist raised to knock on the door once again!

Ah, true. Papyrus had done that. Syphus raised his eyebrows. "You told him to scram?"

"I didn't even bother doing that, I just closed the door! Bam, right in his face! It was midnight, who in their right mind goes bother someone at midnight? So I returned to bed. I think Papyrus took the hint, because he didn't knock again. When I woke up and left the house, he was sitting right there in the entrance, he didn't look tired at all despite being there the entire night.

I was impressed, gotta admit. That guy had spent the entire night waiting for me to wake up and talk to him, and the first thing he says is that he wants to be in the Royal Guard! I thought someone like him could be useful, so I accepted and said I'd train him"

"Papyrus doesn't seem like much of a fighter"

"You kidding? He's a _great_ fighter. He has strength, he knows how to use it, and he has the restraint to not go overboard. He's also kind, ready to help anyone, and you'll hardly find anyone else more willing to stick by your side. He'd be the perfect guard! If he wasn't so...so..." Undyne grunted with annoyance. "So nice. He's too nice. In a real battle he'd be torn into little smiling shreds"

That wasn't really the impression Syphus had. In his opinion, Papyrus could pull his weight when it was warranted. He wouldn't like it, but he also wasn't going to let somebody get hurt if he could help it, even if it meant attacking someone. "Maybe he's more capable than you think"

"I'm not going to put him in danger" she said decisively "In a group, everyone has something they're good for. The problem is that what I think Papyrus is good for won't be of much help to us. He's more like support, I'd put my life in his hands anytime, I just don't think he's made for attacking head on.

Not that it matters. He doesn't want to be a guard anymore"

That was something Syphus definitely wanted to hear more about. "Why? Sounds to me like he tried everything he could to be a guard!"

"Exactly, that's why I didn't understand at first. Then I realized: he didn't know what we'd do to the humans we captured. I'm sure he didn't know that back then, and once he found out we'd take their souls he was so appalled he changed his mind"

That sounded plausible. Papyrus would never consent a human's soul being taken like that. "Did you try to explain it to him?"

"No, I know him, he'd never want to capture a human if that's what would happen to them. I was so frustrated back then, now I know it was for the better" she stared at her reflection on her helmet, examining every inch of Syphus' polishing work "What I don't know is how he found out. Sans wouldn't tell him; he must have heard that somewhere else"

 _Someone who could tell him..._ Ciruel. That was the most likely possibility. Everyone in the Hidden Village knew what would happen to them if they got captured by monsterkind, Ciruel included. He must have told him, trying to convince him not to pass him to the Royal Guard. _I'm not sure if that's good or bad. Maybe good._

That anecdote did speak well of Undyne, though. Her dedication to the guards, giving Papyrus a chance, respecting his wishes when he decided not to join, it all spoke of her perspective towards the Royal Guard, her moral principles, and especially about how much she valued her friends and would help them.

 **You feel you understand Undyne a little better**

 **The Undyne Social Link has reached Rank 6!**

 **Your power to create Personas of the Justice Arcana has grown!**

Talking about all that brought up something Undyne had been thinking about. "You know; I think we're...not very good as a team"

"What's that supposed to mean?!" _I think we're doing fantastic so far!_

"We fight well, I know, but when we're not in one of those trips we're like strangers. We get along with each other, and a few of us are friends, but that's limited only to two people, sometimes three. Like me and Annie, we're friends but I can't say the same about Cohen"

 _Oh._ She wasn't wrong. Their team dynamic was incredibly lacking. Although he thought they were all friends, he knew that they wouldn't be together if it wasn't because of the Personas and everything they entailed. Syphus stared at the tip of his claws, disappointed at having to confront such truth. "I'm not surprised. We're all so different it's almost a miracle we're together. An eight-year-old girl, an octogenarian, the monster captain of the Royal Guard, and then there's me" _Some Shadow who's hiding a lot to everyone._

"When you put it like that it sounds like we're a bunch of nobodies trying to hang out with each other!" Undyne protested.

"It's true, though. You and I spend a large part of our days working here at New Home. Cohen has to take care of the village. Annie's pretty much the only one who can go around being social!" Syphus said "Cohen and Annie didn't even get along before this whole thing started. We're pretty lousy when it's about being friends"

Undyne got away from the wall, escorting Syphus out of the headquarters. "You know what we need? Someone who can help us get along better. A new team member"

"Someone charismatic who can make friends and would love to help us. Someone who wouldn't care about some of us being humans, and would give their best no matter what"

The best candidate they could think was pretty obvious: "Papyrus" they both said. Undyne really didn't like that thought.

"I don't think Papyrus should get involved in this! This is dangerous!"

Syphus grimaced. He agreed with Undyne, but he didn't want to underestimate Papyrus. Telling her to give him a chance wouldn't lead anywhere because there was no way Undyne would just let a friend be on the line of fire, so instead... "Okay, in the unlikely chance Papyrus gets a Persona, we'll try to keep him in some sort of support role"

"Support?" she looked a bit conflicted about that, but she had to admit that was better than him fighting against Shadows.

"Healing, keeping our defense up, debuffing the Shadows, watching out for any dangers we don't notice...all kinds of tasks he can do and would be a weight off our shoulders" he explained, not mentioning how that'd depend on Papyrus' theoretical Persona. The skills it'd have would change what Papyrus could do.

Undyne scowled before finally nodding. "Good enough"

"Besides, it's possible he won't even get the chance to obtain a Persona. From what I have noticed, everyone we have to rescue is undergoing some sort of emotional turmoil or doubts.

Seriously, what kind of turmoil can _Papyrus_ suffer?"

-ooooo-

Talking with Flowey went without a hitch. Chara's request was simple: to follow Syphus around, and then inform Chara of what was going on with him. That was all the child wanted, they wanted to find out exactly what Syphus was hiding. Flowey was their ticket for that. He'd be able to follow Syphus around! And then depending on what Flowey saw and heard, Chara could decide what to do. As simple as that!

They had just finished their conversation with Flowey when Syphus and Undyne arrived to Snowdin. Chara peered from behind the shed, seeing them walk towards the skeletons' home. "There's your target. You'll follow the guy with the feathers and see what he's doing"

Flowey seemed glad to do what Chara asked. They were working together to do...something! He didn't like Chara refused to elaborate what they'd do once they knew what Syphus was planning, he trusted Chara enough to not question them.

Now that the arrangements were done, Flowey hid under the soil, ready to follow Syphus once he left Snowdin. The child ran to the door to Sans' laboratory, pretending they had just ascended from its depths, and hoping Papyrus was nowhere nearby. For some reason, Sans hadn't told Papyrus he had brought Frisk, and although they'd _love_ to ruin Sans' day by tattling to the tall skeleton about his brother's deceit, that could cause more trouble than it'd be worth.

Better pull their punches for the time being.

Returning full control to Frisk – Frisk had respected their wish to let Chara have some privacy and had tried their best to not listen – they stood there at the door, with their hand on the doorknob. " _Undyne and Syphus are here. I think you should go see them"_ Chara said.

"They're here to talk with me?"

" _I think so. No point in avoiding them if they know you're here_ " they figured Syphus already knew, at least. Deciding to listen to Chara, Frisk moved to the side of the house. When they got there, they only found Undyne. Had Syphus gone into the house? Through the window, they saw Syphus going up the stairs, towards Papyrus' room. So that was why he had come to Snowdin...he wanted to talk to Papyrus.

"We finally meet again, pipsqueak!" Undyne affectionately picked up Frist from the sweater, immediately bringing them close to her and giving them a noogie. Laughing, Frisk begged her to stop, wheezing for air and kicking the air. The happiness in their voice was encouragement for Undyne, who continued.

The two kept horsing around for a long while. Throwing snow at each other, Frisk trying to push Undyne onto the snow and failing, running around trying to catch each other. It had been a while since Frisk had officially befriended Undyne, this was the first time they played around.

It was moments like these what Frisk cherished the most, what reminded them why they kept trying over and over to free monsterkind.

After a while, Syphus exited the house. He had talked to Papyrus, trying to ascertain how Papyrus' emotional state was like, and found an increasingly more disquieted Papyrus, who was trying his best to not show how bad he felt, how much he was starting to notice all Sans was hiding from him. With a bright grin, he kept carrying on like nothing was wrong. No matter what Papyrus felt, it was clear to him it wasn't bad enough to be considered a potential target for whoever was making monsters and humans fall down. Satisfied with his findings, Syphus stepped out of the house, finding Undyne and Frisk playing nearby.

There was something heartwarming in hearing them laugh. Undyne held Frisk high in the air, roaring and laughing loudly. Frisk squirmed, not even really trying to flee from her grasp. "I give up! You win, you win!" they howled, holding onto Undyne's hands.

"Of course I win!" Undyne shouted, running through the snow and aiming at a large snowbank. She wasn't even a foot away when she jumped upwards, gaining air, and threw Frisk towards the snowbank with a lot of strength. The child sank in the snow with a resounding *plaf*, disappearing from sight. "I'm gonna see Papyrus!" Undyne informed. Frisk barely had time to flash a thumbs-up from the depths of the snowbank before Undyne crossed the doorway.

Deciding this was a good time to approach, Syphus got to the snowbank and looked inside. "I hope you didn't tire out Undyne very much"

"Syphus!" Frisk got out of the snowbank with some trouble, gasping, and grabbed onto Syphus' pants, trying to gather their energies "I wanted to see you before I got going!"

"...you wanted to see me?" Why Syphus and not anyone else? Undyne was a much closer friend than Syphus was, he saw no reason why they'd want to see him instead of her if they needed something. Frisk didn't seem to care, though. They nodded vigorously, and left the skeletons' property without even bothering to say goodbye. Syphus, still a bit baffled, followed them, until they reached the main road and started walking in direction to Waterfall.

All monsters Frisk encountered during that walk greeted them cheerfully, not even caring there was a vulnerable human walking among them. Frisk returned their greetings with joy, much to Syphus' increasing relief. He did know Frisk was in friendly terms with more than half of monsterkind, but seeing it himself made him appreciate that more. "Looks like everyone is okay with having you around" Syphus commented, Frisk merely nodded "How did that happen?"

"...I don't know. It just happened. I think Undyne did something too"

He wasn't sure if Frisk was being humble or if they didn't realize their mercifulness giving monsters a reason to be friendly. They had to be aware of that after having done it so many times! "Good. So, why did you want to see me?"

Frisk kept walking, their expression turned serious. "I want to see Dad. I'm going to New Home"

"Really? Are you sure this is the best time for that?" It was true it seemed monsters were fine with Frisk, but the king was another person altogether! From Frisk taking so long to reach New Home Syphus had supposed something had stopped them, was whatever obstacle there was before gone now? "Why?"

"I have been thinking about my friends, and about...why I'm here for. I'm not only trying to break the Barrier; I also am here to help my friends. Dad...I'll help him"

"And what kind of help can _you_ give? I don't mean to offend you, Frisk, but things are a bit more difficult for you nowadays" Syphus felt gross for being so blunt.

"If I'm the first human around since Chara died then Dad has no one else's SOULs, right?"

"Well, yeah, you're right..."

"I know Dad, he felt awful about killing the other children, but in this timeline he hasn't killed anyone yet. If I can talk with him maybe I can convince him to not to kill anyone, ever"

That made sense, but Syphus wasn't sure if Asgore would listen to Frisk. "It's risky. Are you sure you should try?"

"I _must_ try. I refuse to give up"

"Determined to the end. I like that of you, but please, be careful"

Frisk nodded, and their voice acquired a more threatening edge "I wanted to tell you that so you don't try to stop me. I know Mr. Dad Guy, and I know what I'm doing. Don't get in my way" the odd tone was gone, their expression softened "Please trust me"

Syphus narrowed his eyes. _That you, Chara?_ He suspected for a moment Chara had said something, but he couldn't just point that out It wouldn't end well. "...okay, Frisk, I won't. I'll let you do whatever you want. Just take your time, that's all I ask. Don't go there immediately"

The child was in silence for a moment before nodding. More delays? It was like everything was trying to stop them from reaching New Home. First Chara, now Syphus. Still...if he was asking this, then surely he had a good reason. "I'll go to the resort first. Is that okay?"

"That works. Thank you, Frisk"

 **Frisk has taken a decision and won't stop until they succeed.**

 **You sense Frisk's unbridled determination**

 **The Human Child Social Link has reached Rank 7!**

 **Your power to create Personas of the Fool Arcana has grown!**

Waterfall was as damp as always, Frisk stepped over the puddles, splashing, carefree. "Why don't you take off the monster suit? You'll be okay"

"...I'd rather not. You're a child, I'm an adult...I think a reason why monsters are okay with you is because you're a kid" Not that it made Frisk any less dangerous, Syphus knew that well.

"If I convince Dad to forget the war, will you stop pretending to be a monster?" Frisk tilted their head. Syphus involuntarily touched the firefly brooch, tracing its contours with a finger.

"...okay, I will. I promise" May as well say that, although he had no idea how Frisk or anyone could convince Asgore to call off the war. Only Asgore – or maybe Toriel too – would be able to change the situation. Frisk seemed satisfied, though, and started jogging.

"I'll be at the resort!" they shouted before vanishing out of view. Syphus was happy to see Frisk was feeling prepared for what was going to happen, but he wished the child would be careful. Asgore thought gathering the SOULs was for the better, and his own moral qualms could be left aside if pushed too much. Acquiring the first soul was very difficult, but if he did so, then there was a chance he wouldn't hold back when he encountered the other humans, even if he knew that was wrong.

 _I should get to the castle first and talk to Asgore._

-ooooo-

It had taken a while for Flowey to get used to his senses as a flower – well, he hadn't gotten used to them yet. His method of travel was always underground, his stem would have never been able to tear through the ground and soil, but when all of himself was underground, it was as if he could move anywhere. All he had to do was focus on where he wanted to pop up, and he did.

He could sense the weight of objects over the soil, meaning he wouldn't crash headfirst against anything immovable or too sturdy to be broken through. The vibrations of monsters' steps alerted him of where people were at. He even had an idea of where the flat surfaces were at so he could emerge there.

The problem was that he hadn't mastered yet a way to know _who_ was over the surface. He emerged from time to time, making sure not to lose Syphus, going all the way to Waterfall. It was all going well until he couldn't feel the vibrations of steps anymore. Confused, Flowey emerged.

He was at a tunnel in Waterfall. He looked around, not seeing Syphus anywhere. That didn't make sense! The vibrations of Syphus' steps vanished, nobody else had come around here, it just didn't make sense he'd vanish in thin air! Flowey looked around, hoping to see any kind of hidden passageway or a path Syphus could have taken, but he saw nothing. No tunnel, no outcrop, no crevice, not even water he could have crossed! Syphus had just...vanished in the air!

Or at least that was the impression Flowey had. He was unable to see the large and shiny door to the Velvet Room. Syphus had entered the room, vanishing from Waterfall and unwittingly evading Flowey, all Flowey could do was leave and try to find Syphus somewhere else in Waterfall.

"I can't return to Chara without anything useful!" he was sure Chara would forgive him, but he wanted to be useful to Chara. He promised himself he'd return to Chara only once he got something useful to share.

Surely Chara would understand.

* * *

 **SOCIAL LINKS:**

 **Fool - Frisk - RANK 7**

 **Magician - Burgerpants - RANK 3**

 **Priestess - Alphys - RANK 7**

 **Empress - Toriel - RANK 3**

 **Emperor - Cohen - RANK 4**

 **Hierophant - Ciruel - BROKEN**

 **Lovers - ? - RANK 0**

 **Chariot - Ananas - RANK 6**

 **Justice - Undyne - RANK 6**

 **Hermit - Gaster - RANK 1**

 **Fortune - ? - RANK 0**

 **Strength - Celia - RANK 2**

 **Hanged Man - ? - RANK 0**

 **Death - Cornio - REVERSED**

 **Temperance - ? - RANK 0**

 **Devil - ? - RANK 0**

 **Tower - ? - RANK 0**

 **Star - Lucia - RANK 3**

 **Moon - ? - RANK 0**

 **Sun - Papyrus - RANK 3**

 **Judgment - Team - RANK 4**

 **Aeon - Syphus - REVERSED**

 **Jester - Alphonse - REVERSED**


	39. The Sixth Victim

The pieces on the board were surrounding a few of Sisyphus' pieces. Staring at the board as if he was going to burn a hole through it just with his eyes, Sisyphus thought of different options. Once again, for the umpteenth time, Cornio had cornered him. Giving up at trying to get out of the problem by himself, he asked: "What do you think, Lucia?"

There was no reply from the witch beside him. Finally looking up from the board, Sisyphus lightly nudged her. "Ah...hm? Sorry, what?" she sounded distracted.

"What should I do now? I can't continue any further without some heavy losses" he said. At the other side of the board, Cornio pretended not to listen. It wouldn't be fair to overhear what Sisyphus was saying, even if he wasn't making any effort to stay silent.

Lucia rubbed one of her earrings, making a noncommittal noise. "...I dunno..."

"This would be a good time for you to get involved. Your piece is already on the board, we could—"

"Not yet" she said very clearly "I don't want to yet" something about her tone made very clear there was no room for negotiation. If she didn't want her piece to get too involved, then it wouldn't.

Unfortunately for her, Sisyphus was rather stubborn. He saw no other option than trying to convince Lucia to help him, otherwise Cornio would have too much advantage over him. "Come on! Look at this, I'm going to lose – again!"

"...I could hold back if you need me to" Cornio said quietly, earning a glare from Lucia "I was just saying"

"Sisyphus, is there really no other option? I told you I'm not ready to join the team yet" it was more like she didn't want to get involved at all, but Cornio had dragged her into the match. Why hadn't she just said no?

The only response Sisyphus gave her was a deadpan look and a gesture at the board. _Take a look and tell me if there's any other option,_ he thought. Lucia analyzed the layout and agreed that yes, it was up to her to provide some cover while he led everything to another direction. Syphus seemed to know what he was doing, but Cornio had advanced too quickly for him to do his moves.

"Fine. Do what I'll say and my piece will cover you. Let's set the ground for this first, okay?"

-ooooo-

The Hidden Village was in disarray when Syphus arrived. Undyne wasn't too far behind, following with some hesitation. True, Ananas had revealed the location of the village to her, and she had hanged out in the vicinity, but she had never gone _into_ the village ever before. Syphus had said that with his support, they would accept her – with distrust at first, but that was unavoidable, in his opinion.

He didn't expect to find Cohen, Ananas, Ciruel and Monster Kid standing near Cohen's sentry station. Cohen was pointing at different directions, yelling at the three people in front of him. All of them seemed contrite, as if they had done something wrong. The guardian was about to keep ranting and yelling when Monster Kid noticed Syphus and Undyne. The young monster yelped and hid behind Ananas, avoiding Undyne's watchful eye. "Ah! Good timing! We're in sore need of a helping hand over here" Cohen said, crossing his arms "No offense, MK"

"It's okay" he said, looking like he was strongly considering trying to burrow into the ground to escape Undyne. _Something's wrong._

"Is everything okay?" Syphus asked, starting to get worried. It had been a while since the old man was shouting at Ananas like this, for him to return to his old bad habits something must have happened. Cohen crossed his arms, biting back the immediate 'of course not!' reply, instead trying to stay calm to not have to explain this more than once.

"Byssa and Graham are missing"

"Sorry, what?" Syphus sure hoped he had heard wrong! Those two weren't the type to flee from the village to walk around the Underground, if they really were missing then it was likely something bad had happened to them.

Cohen's fingers curled around his arms, he was making a herculean effort not to start shouting at Syphus as well. "They're _missing_! Gone! They're not _here_ in the village anymore!"

"I heard that part, I'm just wondering how it happened!"

"It sure wasn't by walking through the entrance over there, that I can tell you!" it was likely he was correct. Cohen wouldn't have let them escape – even though Ciruel and Ananas sneak out of the village all the time, they had a lot of practice. It'd presumably be the first time Byssa and Graham left the village. How could a pair of beginners get through Cohen's vigilance?

Undyne wasn't going to stand around and let this nonsense continue. It was pretty clear the humans and Monster Kid were at a loss of what to do, and Syphus sure seemed to be taking his sweet time coming to terms with what had happened. She asserted herself immediately – stepping right to Cohen's side. Ciruel was the only one who seemed unsure about this, and Monster Kid was still hiding behind Ananas, so Syphus told Ciruel the captain of the Royal Guard was a friend and they could trust her. Ciruel didn't seem particularly eager to take that for granted.

"I can't believe you managed to lose two entire humans! Like not even a pint-sized human like Annie!" Undyne chided. Cohen looked down, as if that had been his fault. He didn't even have a reply to that. Not happy with his lack of response, she sought answers from someone else. "You! Annie! What's going on?"

Ananas put a comforting hand on Monster Kid's head, whispering something to him before swallowing and saying, her voice shaking: "Ciruel called Cohen and said something about another human kid somewhere, and...um..." she pulled her cowboy hat over her eyes "...what happened w-was..."

"Yeah? What happened, squirt? Come on, tell me!" Undyne gave Monster Kid a stare full of authority and expectations about being told the truth, making him whine softly.

"Yo, she's scary when she gets mad..."

"You're protecting him" Undyne said, Ananas immediately stammered an apology. Indeed, she had been covering up for Monster Kid, maybe she even thought about taking the blame, but she didn't have the time to do that before Undyne outright said what they were doing. Having gotten that much out of Ananas, Undyne softened just a bit, trying to be more approachable. "And? What are you hiding?"

"...I just wanted to tell _her_!" Monster Kid blurted out. Ananas pulled Monster Kid a bit closer, as if she was trying to take the flak for what happened.

"They must have heard him when he told me about Frisk" she said. Syphus frowned. "If they heard him—"

"They must have gone search Frisk?" Syphus wasn't very sure they had gone to do such thing, but it was a possibility. _Please tell me that isn't so_. If they went to search them, then they could be in danger. Before he could ascend the stairs back, Cohen grabbed him from the arm, pulling him to the sentry station.

"Hold on, bucko!" Cohen shouted "I told you they can't have gotten out this way!"

Ciruel idly peeled off some purple paint from his hands, talking with feigned disinterest. "They may have gone to _that_ place we go to"

"What? What place?" Syphus inquired. Ciruel languidly glanced at him.

"The chamber over there. Follow me"

Apparently Ciruel thought that they should all already know about where Graham and Byssa sometimes go to, because he led them with a rather blasé attitude. On the back of the cavern that held the entire village, there was a crack on the wall, leading towards a rather short passageway ending in a river. The shores were covered with Echo Flowers, and a waterfall filled the river constantly. During the few weeks he had lived there, Syphus had taken baths in that river. He had been told that was the place where the residents of the village bathed, so of course once they got there, all Syphus could think was _'really? They're here?'_ It made no sense Graham and Byssa were missing if they were in that room.

"Yo, I didn't know this place existed!" Monster Kid said to Ananas, excitedly running around and reaching the shore "Waterfall is a really big place"

Undyne immediately saw something, most likely because she was used to the water in this part of the Underground. She pointed at the cascade that fed the river. "Syphus, look. There's more behind the waterfall"

"There is?" All this time Syphus hadn't realized there was more in the room than just the river, and judging by Cohen and Ananas' expressions, they hadn't known either. For some reason Monster Kid wasn't that surprised – because he hadn't known about this room in the first place, Syphus thought.

Ciruel explained, stating matter-of-factly: "There's a field over there, almost as big as the cavern with the cottages. We tend to spend some time over there, just hanging out and talking"

"That's all you do there?" Cohen asked with suspicion. It was kind of far away and hidden just to be a place to hang out.

"It's not like there's anything in the field" Ciruel said, defensive. "It's just to talk, honest"

"Whatever! We're not going to keep standing here!" Undyne didn't wait for any permission, she jumped into the waterfall, crossing it and falling into a natural rocky arch that led into a chamber. Just like Ciruel had said, it was of considerable size. Grass covered the ground, there was a big rocky formation on the center, like a plateau. It was so tall they'd have to climb it to get to the top. Around the room a few more Echo Flowers were spread around, and a cardboard box was left to a side. When Syphus looked inside, he found many sheets of paper with writing on them, forming a neat pile. "Found something"

"Please leave that alone" Ciruel requested, walking to the box and closing it _. ...fine._ He'd have to remember to check that when Ciruel wasn't around.

"Anyway, they're not here"

The former scholar grimaced. "...I really thought they'd be here. It was the only possibility that made sense"

"But this is a place they come to often, that's what you said" Undyne remembered "Then someone should stay here in case they do return"

Cohen tried to adjust his gloves, murmuring: "For that they'd have to pass through the rest of the village"

"That doesn't matter! Someone should stay here"

"In that case I will" Ciruel looked at Syphus with a distrustful look "I think someone's grubby hands are itching to sneak a peek into stuff that doesn't concern him" _...well he's not wrong..._

"I'll go outside" Cohen said" Syphus approached him, not liking the old man was taking that particular responsibility. After all, he didn't have the means to disguise himself, did he?

"Undyne and I should be the ones to go outside, you can't afford to be seen—"

"I'll wear my armor!" Cohen interrupted "It will cover all of me, if I wear it no monster will know it's me!"

Undyne messed with Cohen's hair, forcing him to hunch over. "I'll go with him. That good?" Syphus had to admit that was a good idea. If Undyne went with Cohen armored, she could make sure nobody would find out he's human. It was much better than Cohen going by himself, yeah.

"What are we going to do?" Monster Kid asked. Syphus sighed, seeing what was the only option left for him. It bothered him because he wanted to take a more active role – searching would keep his mind busy and he wouldn't be consumed with worry about what may have happened to those two.

"We're going to stay in the village. We can't leave Celia by herself" _It's already bad enough she's alone right now._ Syphus walked to the waterfall that hid this chamber. "Come on, let's get going!"

"Wait for me!"

Luckily for them, Celia hadn't noticed they all had left her alone in her cottage. She tried to get off the bed when Syphus, Ananas and Monster Kid entered, and was informed of the current situation. She immediately requested to be taken out of her cabin to wait for the missing humans, request that was denied. "What if you get lost too?" Monster Kid said. Celia didn't take offense at them, instead smiling appreciatively at the monster.

"Nice of you to worry about an old human like me...but I assure you there's no reason for concern. I'm way too old to matter anymore, trust me"

"That's not right. Look, we'll take care of you and make sure nothing happens to you" Ananas said, trying to help Celia lie on the bed again. The old woman didn't resist, seeing how intent they all were in keeping her in her cottage.

"Okay, I'll stay. Just keep me updated all you can" she clutched the ribbon hanging limply from her long hair "I hope they're okay...oh, Byssa..."

"...you two are rather close, aren't you?"

"We're family, and she came to Mt. Ebott to look for me. She takes care of me everyday, I...I can't imagine my life without her"

Having to give her bad news would be heartbreaking. Syphus hoped it wouldn't come to that – he intended to LOAD if it turned out something had happened to Byssa or Graham, but the thought of Celia receiving bad news, even if it was undone...he knew he wouldn't dare to witness such thing.

Ananas put on her best confident voice, as well as its most convoluted and thick voice: ''m sure she's okay. Ya'll see, she's going to walk into this saloon..." she trailed off, unsure how to continue. It wasn't even making sense.

The effort to calm her down brightened Celia's day a lot, she laughed and said they could leave her, that she'd be okay. Although Monster Kid expressed he didn't want to leave her alone, she insisted, that she'd be okay. The three left Celia's cottage, standing outside, unsure what to do.

"...do you think they'll find them quickly?" Ananas asked, for the first time showing her doubts. She looked down at the ground, suddenly very interested in the tip of her boots.

"They'll be okay, yo! Don't worry, they will...they will be okay" Monster Kid said, even if he didn't sound that sure "I dunno them well, but they wouldn't get caught, right?"

"Right. They won't"

"Yeah..." Syphus said, not hiding he wasn't convinced. He didn't say it aloud because he didn't want to make the kids panic, but he feared something could have happened to them. He hoped to be wrong, to be afraid without justification, but...

...but what else could he think?

-ooooo-

One hour after Cohen and Undyne left, Syphus realized letting that happen may have been bad for his heart.

At this point he was more certain that was paranoia instead of any justifiable fear, but the more time passed, the more thoughts about Cohen getting caught kept bothering him. It could be someone in the Royal Guard caught them, without Undyne finding out. It could be Asgore himself somehow stumbled upon them. Heck, maybe Flowey had gone insane and had taken their SOULs. There were so many scenarios passing through his mind, one more unrealistic than others.

"I can't take this anymore" he said, standing up. Near him Ananas and Monster Kid were playing, she had given him her hat and teaching him her false accent. When Syphus said that, Ananas turned her head around, about to stand up.

"What're you doing?"

"I'm going to talk to Celia, that's all" he said. He couldn't just leave the children nor Celia alone, after all. No matter how nervous he felt, how much he wanted to leave the village and go search for Byssa and Graham, he had to stay near the children.

The three entered Celia's cottage again. The old woman was staring at a photo, a very old yellowy photo that looked like it was going to crumble into dust at any moment. She didn't look up when they entered, but she seemed aware of their presence, she sat up very rigidly when they crossed the doorway.

"Celia?" Ananas tentatively tried to get her attention further, getting closer "What's that?"

The old woman turned her head around. Her brow was furrowed, her eyes showed such a deep sadness Syphus for a moment felt a knot in his throat. That was an old woman who was carrying a big weight on her shoulders, someone who was very tired and considered herself worthless. Celia extended a hand, passing the photo to Ananas. "Want to take a look?"

"Yeah" Ananas received the photo.

"Handle it with care, please. It's all I have left"

Ananas made sure to not press on it too much with her fingers, and observed it, turning it to the side so Monster Kid could look as well. "Yo, this is very old"

"May I?" Syphus requested, receiving the photo after a moment. It felt fragile, like a dried leaf. When he focused on it, he saw a photo of a family. Two adults and a girl of around six years old – a girl he recognized. She looked exactly like the Celia he once knew, in the original timeline. _Oh man..._ he felt really bad for her.

"That's me and my parents. Mom, Dad...that's the only photo I have of them"

"How were they like?"

Celia looked like she was punched in the face. She pulled from the cover of her bed, pulling it up to her chin. "...I can't remember. Last time I saw them was so long ago and I was just a child. I can't even remember their names. I can't even remember what it was like to be with them..." she murmured. Syphus gave her photo back, she took it carefully and put it on her bedside table. For a moment all they could do was pity her, wish she had more about her family than just an old photo.

"How old are you?" Monster Kid wasn't so shy he wouldn't ask such a direct question. He understood Celia wasn't feeling very cheerful, and wanted to know more. He wanted to know better these humans her friend lived with – especially because they left him stick around to play with Ananas whenever he wanted. It was the least he could do.

The question made Celia smile with nostalgia. "One hundred and seven years old"

Monster Kid wasn't sure if that was a lot for a human. Ananas was hiding her face behind her hat, so he couldn't really ask her. Syphus' cringing was hard to interpret, too. "When did you fall down here?"

"Almost a hundred years ago. In two months it'll be exactly one hundred years"

One hundred years trapped in that tiny part of a cavern system underneath a mountain...that sounded like torture. If monsters were having a hard time living in a comparatively much larger space, he could only imagine how badly she was taking being in that tiny village, with not even the option of getting out.

Celia curled a bit. "A hundred years is a long time for a human. So much usually happens...but I can't remember anything. Do you know why...Syphus?"

Syphus didn't expect a direct question. "No, not really"

"I don't remember where these hundred years have gone to because almost nothing changes here" she said, looking towards the open door. "It's the same place...the same people, living monotone lives. The days something unusual happened were very rare, but...I'll cherish those days, if only because those days were _different._

It's like I'm in a timeloop. I hate this...and I hate I can do nothing about it"

How were they supposed to deal with this? Monster Kid was sympathetic but didn't know where to even start, Ananas was staring at her with confusion, and all Syphus did was sigh, passing a hand through his hair.

Noticing she had brought the mood down, Celia laughed, sounding anything but cheerful. "Don't pay attention to what I say. I have so much free time to think I make up a lot of stupid stuff"

Nobody was convinced at all. Feeling things were getting too heavy, Syphus pushed Ananas and Monster Kid towards the doorway, turning his head at Celia before leaving. "Celia, this can't continue like this. I can't say I understand how you feel, but...if there's anything I can do to help..."

She paused, and nodded slowly. "I wish there was" she admitted.

 **You witnessed the weight Celia feels upon her soul**

 **The Old Woman Social Link has reached Rank 3!**

 **Your power to create Personas of the Strength Arcana has grown!**

Looking down at the ground, deep in thought, Syphus pushed the children out of the cottage. Lowering his voice, he leaned towards them: "Give me a moment" he requested before closing the door, and approaching Celia back. With trembling fingers, he touched the ribbon on Celia's hair, adjusting it so it was straight. What could he say to make the woman feel better?

"You don't have to try to console me, Syphus. You being here is enough for me to know I can count on you" she said, patting his hand and removing it from her hair.

"...I know" he mumbled and stepped back. With grim expression, Syphus patted Celia's bony shoulder, at a loss for words, and got to the door. When he opened it, he thought of something to say, he raised his voice so Celia would be able to hear him: "Things are going to get better, Celia. You just have to believe"

She didn't reply. Shaking his head, he closed the door.

-ooooo-

Half an hour later, Undyne and Cohen still hadn't gotten back yet. The children distracted themselves by Ananas talking to Monster Kid about how to handle her gun responsibly, and although they attempted to get Syphus involved in their conversations, the adult was getting increasingly worried. The three were still in front of Celia's door, sitting against it and glancing every so often at the plateau with the passageway to the rest of Waterfall. Although Syphus kept trying to think about anything else, he was too worried about them. Thoughts of Cohen being captured kept surfacing, while Undyne watched helplessly. He knew it was unrealistic – Undyne, helpless? No way – but he kept returning to it, over and over.

"Syphus, did you hear me?"

"Huh?" Syphus snapped out of his grim thoughts.

"I asked if you're okay"

For a moment Syphus considered not saying anything, not wanting to burden Ananas with his worries, but something about how earnest she looked about being worried made him change his mind. She wanted to help him, who was he to deny her the chance? "It's taking them so long"

"Undyne? Yo! Don't worry, they're okay!" Monster Kid said with conviction "Undyne's very tough!"

"And Cohen isn't the kind of guy who'd give up. They'll be okay" Ananas added. Syphus' doubts must have been rather noticeable, because Ananas stood up, grabbing him by the arm and dragging him away once she asked Monster Kid to stay in case Undyne returned. The two stopped by the communal building, Ananas flicking the brim of her hat upwards, with her best confident expression. "Have you no faith in them?"

Syphus frowned. "That's not it, I just—"

"If it helps then let me tell you something: I think I see why Undyne did that thing with the rope last time. I think she wanted to teach me to not only rely on others, but also trust they could do their part without my help. I kept telling you and MK how to walk and stuff, and that's why we couldn't do well"

"...that so?" quite the interpretation, in his opinion. It seemed kind of a roundabout way to teach that, but Undyne was the captain of the royal guard, not him. Surely she knew what she was doing.

"Yeah! Can you believe it? Undyne's teaching me stuff!" she was beaming with pride "And you know what else? You know? I...I'm thinking about what I want to be. Maybe I'm not...maybe I shouldn't be the guardian anymore"

"What?!" That he definitely didn't expect. Syphus shouted, alarmed. Ananas losing her dream was a reason to think something was very wrong!

Not seeing how alarmed Syphus was, Ananas continued. "I want to be...um..." she scratched her head "What do you call that person who represents a country while being in another?"

"Ambassador?"

"Yes! I want to be an ambassador. That'll be better than being the guardian"

Syphus wasn't really sure why she had such a sudden change of career, so he decided he had to ask: "Why? I thought you were determined to replace Cohen"

"I know, but..." she looked in direction of where Monster Kid was still waiting. "I don't want to fight monsters anymore. If they come I want to talk to them and maybe convince them not to take our souls?"

 _Oh._ Ananas continued, smiling sadly. "I hadn't realized before monsters could be so...so nice. I knew MK, but I thought he was nice because he was a kid too, and Mom...she's nice too, but I don't see her often. I didn't know other monsters until you arrived, with all this stuff about Personas. Now I know Undyne and Alphys and...I think I'll meet other monsters later" she clicked and unclicked the safety of her gun with her thumb, staring at it contemplatively. "I don't want to fight monsters anymore..."

"Undyne said something like that too once. She doesn't want to take our souls"

Ananas laughed. "Really? You know, I can't imagine how it'd be like to not have Undyne as a friend. I can't believe I was terrified of her, but now she's my friend! She's the best!"

"So that's why you don't want to be the guardian anymore..."

"Yeah..." she looked up. "Is that bad? I did so much to get to be the guardian, and now I don't want it"

"Listen, you're looking at this the wrong way. Think of it like this: why can't you do both?"

"Both?"

"Defend us, but also be our ambassador. I don't see why both have to be different jobs" he said "You have the right attitude, you want to help, and you actually know monsters who can help you. You have everything a guardian needs"

"Really?" her eyes were starting to shine, hopeful "You think so?"

"I do. Being a guardian isn't about fighting monsters with ill intentions, it's about taking care of us and making sure we'll be okay, even if we're stuck in this tiny place underneath a mountain. I don't see why you can't be as friend towards monsters as you want to be"

Ananas blinked, thinking about what he had said. She really hadn't considered it that way, but now that Syphus pointed it out, it made some sense. She didn't have to be exactly like Cohen. She could do it her own way. "That's what I'll do! You'll see, I'll be the best guardian you have ever seen!"

 **You felt you could guide Ananas in a moment of doubt**

 **The Ananas Social Link has reached Rank 7!**

 **Your power to create Personas of the Chariot Arcana has grown!**

The girl opened the compartment for bullets, prodding with a fingertip the odd things Alphys had installed inside. These guns were always so strange, yet safe for her to use. "What else does an ambassador do?"

"Uh...they...they also speak with other representatives and find out what their communities need" Syphus said, not knowing at all what an ambassador was supposed to do.

"So if I wanted to be a guarbassador..." Syphus snorted when he heard her newly-minted title "...I'd have to go out and talk to monsters so I can help them?"

"It's not really helping them. Ambassadors don't really do everything by themselves. They have an entire staff who arrange stuff and do the grunt work" _Note to myself: find out how an ambassador works._

Ananas closed the bullets compartment. "You're going to be part of my staff, right?"

"Me?"

"Of course! You and Cohen are my staff. So I talk to monsters, and you guys help them. Being a guarbassador is easier than I thought!"

She said it with such certainty Syphus didn't have the heart to say no. If she wanted to form bridges between the humans and monsters then he sure wasn't going to stop her. He trusted her common sense, she wouldn't jump in front of a monster to tell them she was here to help.

"But I can't do much until monsters stop wanting our souls" she mused, having noticed that flaw in her plans.

Syphus pointed towards Monster Kid, who was dutifully waiting at Celia's cottage, sitting against the wall. "You have him, and you have Alphys and Undyne"

"Ooh, that's true. I'll start with them and build my friendly empire" she frowned "Like that kid you were supposed to find. Did you find them? They're safe?"

"Frisk's okay. They'll be okay"

"Good, because I want to meet them someday and ask him all about the monsters they know. They'll be my partner" having cemented her plans on how the ambassador part of her job would be like, Ananas holstered her gun and returned to Celia's cottage.

 _She knows what she's doing._ And although she had her doubts, she didn't need that much nudging to stop paying attention to them and continue on. Ananas had control of her life and knew what she wanted, and for that Syphus admired her. That she also trusted him enough to confide and then ask for his help also warmed his heart. It was moments like these what showed fighting hard to find the best timeline possible for them was worth it.

-ooooo-

It took another half an hour for Cohen and Undyne to return. The old man descended the stairs, his armor clanking, he slouching over. Did it tire him to walk with it through the real Waterfall? "They're nowhere! We found so many monsters and nobody had seen anything!"

"Hey, punk, do you think they're stealthy or something?" Undyne asked Syphus, taking off her helm. While Cohen tried to calm down Monster Kid and Ananas, she was trying to act like usual, her brash confidence was toned down, hinting how concerned she was.

"I doubt it. They never showed interest in getting out of the village before. If they left—"

"They're back!"

That had been Ciruel's voice. The scholar came out running from the adjacent cave, still dripping water from passing through the waterfall. "We have to call Toriel!"

"It's that bad?" Cohen asked, the kids' eyes wide open with worry.

"Graham has a broken leg. That aside they're okay"

Syphus took out Cohen's cellphone, ready to dial, when he realized who had been the one to find them. "Wait a second, you were at that dead end! How could they have gotten over there without passing in front of us?" Ciruel cleaned one of the lenses of his glasses with the sleeve of his robe, trying to stall a bit.

"They were...I'm not sure what happened. I heard voices from the room with the river, and when I got there the three of them were wadding through the river"

"Three?"

"Byssa, Graham and the monster who found them"

The moment he said 'monster', almost everyone ran towards the river area, Undyne on the lead, a spear in her hand. Only Ciruel and him were left behind. Before he went to follow them, Syphus tried to give Ciruel the sternest glare he could make, and asked: "Is there anything you're hiding?"

"I don't think you have any authority to ask me if _I'_ m hiding anything, pal" he said plainly "I dunno what it is. I keep looking at you, and I keep feeling there's something you're not saying. What is it?"

There was no way Syphus would admit his sins. Only a few hours later he realized Ciruel maybe was referencing everything related to the Personas, but for now, he thought Ciruel was hinting about how he had been murdered. "I-I have no idea—"

Ciruel clicked his tongue. "I knew you'd play dumb" with a look of disdain, he turned around. Even though the cause of the schism in their relationship had been undone, the scholar could see Syphus felt guilty and tried to avoid him, he had noticed the way he avoided being in his presence for long, and although at first he had been confused, soon he started feeling offended and rancorous. If there was a problem, then Syphus should tell him already! "Look, if I did anything that offended you just tell me what it is, because as far as I know I haven't done anything!"

"It's not that, it's..." At a loss and knowing he as just letting the bad blood continue, Syphus ran to follow the others. He had no idea how to even begin to mend his relationship with Ciruel, because he felt he'd have to explain why he was avoiding him, but that was something he didn't think would work at all. For now, running away was his instinct.

...now that he thought about it, that was all he did when he encountered the consequences of his actions: run away. Take responsibility for his actions – that was Igor's contract, and he wasn't doing it. There was this with Ciruel, there was Gaster awaiting him in the Velvet Room, too. He could also sense he had offended someone else, too – he didn't know who, but he felt this constant feeling of guilt he knew belonged to the witch giving him directions.

 _We're cowards. That's what we are._

Nothing would improve unless he faced his cowardice. The problem was that, although he did want to and was ready to do it, the person in charge was pushing down his determination and affecting him with his fear. The most cowardly parts of himself were literally stopping him from doing anything.

Jogging to try to catch up to everyone, Syphus entered the chamber with the river. Just like they had said, Graham had a broken leg. The bone hadn't pierced the skin, but it looked like a bad fracture anyway. Syphus gave Cohen his cellphone back, he immediately dialed for Toriel and moved aside so he could explain the situation to her.

"We shouldn't move him further. Getting him all the way here was pretty bad already" Byssa was saying when Syphus approached. It was obvious, Graham's eyes were full of tears, and he was grimacing. It was a marvel he wasn't screaming his head off in pain.

Syphus crouched beside him. For a moment he considered asking Graham, but seeing he was in so much pain, he decided to direct his questions to the one other person who could say something about what happened. "Did you two get kidnapped or something?"

"What?!" she shook her head, and looked at a particularly dark corner of the chamber. "No! There was a slight earthquake a few hours ago and part of that wall over there fell apart. There was a tunnel behind" it was too dark for anyone to see the tunnel, of course they had missed it.

"You went in there?! That's not safe in an earthquake!" Ananas chided.

"Even I know that's not a good idea, yo" Monster Kid added. Byssa groaned in disbelief she was getting lectured by two kids.

"I know, but we had to take a look where it led to. A monster could sneak through there and find our village, we had to make sure that wasn't possible" _I guess that's a good enough reason?_ "It was pretty dark in there. There were a few of those glowing mushrooms, but those just are mushrooms, not torches"

"Did you trip and fall?" Syphus asked.

"Pretty much. The worst part was that I had no idea how to come back here, and even if I did, I wouldn't know how to reach Graham again. He'd have been doomed if she hadn't found us"

"...she?"

Only then Syphus noticed there was someone else with them. She had been standing to a side, silent, until Syphus laid her eyes on her. It was a monster, seemingly an insect of some sort. She had long antennae, bright and keratinous bulbs on the tip of the antennae, and her wings wrapped around her like a cloak. She reminded Syphus of animals especially made to survive in places with little light. "Does she live down there?"

"That's where she stumbled upon us. She said there's a tiny town deep within the darker corridors of Waterfall, we fell rather close to them"

"...my name is...Scylla" she said. Her voice was low, like a whisper, with the same hesitation of someone who didn't speak often to people. _So that's her piece. I see._ It was a bit worrying her piece had access to the village, but it wasn't like they could do anything. Lucia would ensure her piece would be able to do whatever she wanted. "Let me help you carry him"

"No, it's fine" Cohen said, having finished his call. "Toriel is on her way. She'll be here in a moment"

"Are you sure you don't...want me help?"

"No, thank you" he insisted, making sure the 'no' was crystal clear. He didn't trust Scylla at all, and that was not surprising – he had no reason to believe she was as benevolent as her actions may have hinted. It was better to keep her away. "You may leave now"

"... _fine_ " she sounded rather offended. She came here, carrying an injured human, and she was being treated like some sort of vermin! With a buzz of discontent, she hobbled to the crack on the wall she had come through and went inside.

Undyne had refrained from intervening because she was busy tending to Graham, only when Scylla left she stepped in. "That was uncalled for!"

"I don't trust her at all"

"She brought him all the way here. I get you don't trust a monster you just met, but that doesn't mean you can treat her like she's being a problem!"

"I don't think she was bad..." Monster Kid gave his opinion too. Seeing how he was outnumbered, Cohen just left, going back to the village. Now that Graham was out of danger, they needed to make him as comfortable as possible. Byssa kneeled beside him, holding his head on top of her knees.

"Bring him some water!" she requested. Ananas had been about to dip into the river, but she was stopped. "Not from there! From the village. We have a few bottles"

The girl had barely gotten into the village, running to get a bottle of water from the communal building, when she saw Cohen and Ciruel arguing in front of Celia's cottage. Ciruel was against the wall, raising his hands and trying to keep Cohen away, while the old man yelled, holding Ciruel from the robe and almost lifting him off the floor. Alarmed, Ananas ran to them. "Stop! What are you doing?!"

"He attacked Celia!" Cohen replied, Ciruel shaking his head immediately.

"I didn't do it, I swear! When I entered she already was unconscious!"

"Unconscious...?" Ananas felt a chill down her spine. Given what had been happening during the last month and half, that was a word she was starting to associate with the need to rescue someone. Ignoring the adults, she peeked into Celia's cottage.

Indeed, Celia was lying on her bed, immobile. From what Ananas could see, she was still breathing, she just was very still – just like everyone who had fallen down and had to be rescued. Holding back a shriek of horror, Ananas turned around, stumbling on her boots, and hurried to return to the river.

Syphus had to hear about this.

 **SOCIAL LINKS:**

 **Fool - Frisk - RANK 7**

 **Magician - Burgerpants - RANK 3**

 **Priestess - Alphys - RANK 7**

 **Empress - Toriel - RANK 3**

 **Emperor - Cohen - RANK 4**

 **Hierophant - Ciruel - BROKEN**

 **Lovers - ? - RANK 0**

 **Chariot - Ananas - RANK 7**

 **Justice - Undyne - RANK 6**

 **Hermit - Gaster - RANK 1**

 **Fortune - ? - RANK 0**

 **Strength - Celia - RANK 3**

 **Hanged Man - ? - RANK 0**

 **Death - Cornio - REVERSED**

 **Temperance - ? - RANK 0**

 **Devil - ? - RANK 0**

 **Tower - ? - RANK 0**

 **Star - Lucia - RANK 3**

 **Moon - ? - RANK 0**

 **Sun - Papyrus - RANK 3**

 **Judgment - Team - RANK 4**

 **Aeon - Syphus - REVERSED**

 **Jester - Alphonse - REVERSED**


	40. Celia's SOUL

**"The Strength arcana is...what was it, master? Courage? Courage when...**

 **...**

 **...I see. Courage in the face of adversity. Of course. I'll have to remember him for when ASRIEL arrives. It's weird, why isn't he here yet?**

 **...**

 **I hope he's feeling okay."**

* * *

It was too much at once. Between Graham's broken leg and Celia falling down, chaos reigned in the village. When Ananas returned to alert Syphus about what happened he didn't waste any time in getting Undyne to follow him, the two rushing to Celia's cottage, leaving Monster Kid, Byssa and Ciruel with Graham. Even though the old man wasn't happy about leaving the injured Graham with the person he suspected had done this to Celia, it wasn't like there was any other option – they couldn't leave behind any of their teammates, not when it could be the difference between life and death. They all had to go rescue Celia from her own Shadow.

Once everyone entered into the cottage, Syphus put on the door the thick wooden log that worked as the deadbolt, while Cohen and Undyne dealt with the window. They didn't know how much time they'd have to help Celia, but it'd be inconvenient if someone entered and found them all unconscious. It was already pretty bad they had left the others to wait for Toriel to arrive, it was going to be even worse if they got worried over all of them as well. Toriel would start wondering what was going on! "I'm done over here"

"This should stop them unless they break the window. We can only hope they won't" Cohen said, piling a few objects on the windowsill to try to block the sight. He didn't like any of this more than Syphus did, but it wasn't like they could take Graham and the others in here and tell them not to worry while everybody else fainted.

Ananas was to Celia's side, putting on her armor over her robe. "I'm ready!"

"Then let's get going! What are we waiting for?!" Undyne pressured, already itching to get started with the mission.

Everybody gathered beside Celia lying on her bed. The old woman looked peaceful, almost like her current state was something she wished for all along. The team made sure to be touching each other's armor when Syphus took out the firefly brooch, carefully attaching it to Celia's robe. Swallowing nervously, he raised his voice. "It's set. Is everyone ready?"

"I'm ready"

"Whenever you want"

"Stop asking and just do it!"

"Okay, here we go" Syphus put his hand against the brooch. Right when he pressed it, several things happened at once. During the brief seconds it took for them to pass out, he heard the sound of someone insistently knocking on the door, and Ananas saying 'Huh...? W-Wait!'.

And then it all turned black.

Waking up again didn't stop being an unpleasant experience. The air felt heavy, almost stale, while Syphus leaned against a wall and stood up, trying to keep his legs from trembling. Snapping out of it as quickly as possible to deal with the situation, he examined the surroundings.

It was a rather narrow corridor. The floor was made of wooden planks, the walls were covered with white paint that was peeling in some places, and there was a sensation of loneliness permeating the area. Everything was dark, he could barely see a few feet in front of him. _We're going to need a light._ "Is everyone okay?"

"I'm okay" Cohen said, adjusting the gloves on his hands.

"Ready to go!" Undyne gripped her spear.

"Syphus, we got a problem!" Ananas yelled. Turning around showed what exactly was the problem Ananas was talking about.

"I'm sorry, I'm really sorry!" Monster Kid tried to appease her. He had hidden against the wall, crouching with his tail around him like that was going to hide him from Ananas' accusatory stare. Undyne grabbed the child from the shirt, holding him in the air in front of her. She had her teeth bared, Syphus hadn't seen her so furious ever before.

"What were you thinking?! _Why are you even_ _here?!"_

"Yo, I got locked into the cottage and I saw you all were getting ready for...you know...this" Monster Kid made puppy eyes, Undyne stared at him for a moment before leaving him standing on the floor again.

"You could have spoken up, kid. We'd have let you leave the cottage" Cohen said.

"I know! But I didn't want to get in the way, so I..." _So instead you got in here with us. Great._ Syphus wanted to say, but he making Monster Kid feel bad wasn't going to be of any help. Even though he didn't like Monster Kid was here, there wasn't really anything he could do about it unless he turned back the clock until the very start of the day. Was it worth it?

...if anything happened to Monster Kid it certainly would be. Not wanting to have to relive the entire day unnecessarily, he decided to simply make sure Monster Kid would be safe – as safe as he could be in a Shadow-infested soul.

"I tried to stop when I noticed he had bopped me on the back of the neck with his head, but I didn't shout in time" Ananas admitted, rubbing the nape of her neck. Monster Kid laughed nervously.

"I didn't hit you hard, right?"

"Not really..."

"I guess I was also wanted to see a place like this one again, after the first time"

"Wait what? _You_ got a Persona?!" Undyne shouted so loudly Syphus was sure he heard something skittering down the narrow hallway. Either he smoothed things over, or their discussion would attract all the Shadows in the area. Explaining he had once accidentally taken Monster Kid with him to rescue Ananas was hard to admit, mostly because everyone except the children were looking at Syphus disapprovingly for getting someone – a _child_ \- without a Persona in danger. The disapproval was well-deserved, he had to admit.

"Can't we send him out now?" Cohen asked, although he already had a feeling he wasn't going to get the answer he wanted.

"Of course not. We'd need to have to reach Celia, and we'd all leave together. He's stuck in here until we all get out"

"Oh come on!" Undyne didn't like that at all, but they couldn't do anything about it. Syphus got to the front of everyone to organize them.

"Listen, everyone, this is what we'll do. Undyne, you go first. You're the strongest one here, you can hit hard even without your Persona. Agreed?"

"You got it!"

Syphus pointed at Cohen. "He and I will flank Monster Kid. I have versatility and he has strength. Anything Undyne doesn't pulverize will have to go through us"

"Sounds like a plan" the old man approved. Syphus put a hand on Ananas' hat.

"And you have speed and are quick on your feet. Make sure nothing approaches behind us, and if something does, tell us and _then_ smash it" he said. Ananas got her gun up, nodding. Syphus lightly pushed Monster Kid towards Cohen. "And you will stay in the center. No running around, we're escorting you. By now you should know you're in very real danger, so try not to make it worse. Got it?"

"I-I know, yo..." he murmured. Syphus sighed.

"We're trying to protect you. On the bright side, there are four people with you instead of just me"

He was right about that, Monster Kid thought. It should be kind of fun to see Undyne and Ananas in action! And from so up close, too. See them beating up the bad guys...or...the bad Shadows, he guessed. Having that on his side, he couldn't reject this arrangement!

Everyone got into a good pace pretty much immediately. Undyne ran several feet ahead of everyone, her Persona Geiravor in front of her, galloping and running over all the Shadows it encountered. The few that resisted Geiravor's immense strength got attacked immediately by Undyne herself. Geiravor pushed a Selfish Basalt away, rolling the big chunk of stone and arms away, while Undyne leaped in the air and slammed spears into the cracks of the rock amalgamation. As if that wasn't enough, Undyne dived, piercing the basalt with the spear Alphys made for her, kicking it in further by landing on it, the basalt fading in a burst of darkness.

"Another one!" Ananas shouted from behind, aiming at the bats carrying eyeballs before the Shadow had a chance to appear. "It's like a swarm over here!"

"Hang in there!" Syphus encouraged, his Persona waving its many arms in Ananas' direction, increasing her power. To the other side of the room, Cohen kept an eye on Monster Kid, who was staring at the very deformed Persona Syphus was using.

"This is a really long hallway!" Undyne called from the front "Any ideas where we are?"

"I think it's her house..." Syphus said, unsure "A very old house. She mentioned it to me before, this is where she used to live long ago" he lied, although he did think the part of this being her former house was accurate.

Cohen looked up. "Does that mean she misses her childhood home?"

"I guess so. She is—hey!" his Persona, Hecatoncheir, slapped away a cluster of bats that got past Ananas "She hates being in the Underground! That must be why everything is so dark in here"

"And old. Everything's creaking"

"Creaking?

He was right. With every step they took, the floorboards creaked like they were alive. Syphus stepped forward, testing the wooden planks with his weight. A long squeal echoed in the hallway, the floor made so much noise Syphus was amazed it wasn't falling apart right under their feet—

"Careful over here!" Undyne shouted from ahead. In front of her, there was an area with brittle-looking floorboards. She had stepped on them, walking slowly. While Ananas kept keeping all the Shadows at bay, one by one everybody started walking over the fragile boards, with a hand against the wall as if that was going to save them if the floor fell apart, always looking down to see the first sign of danger underneath them.

It was a long, stressful time. Portions of the floor were almost rotten, pieces falling down, revealing a deep and impenetrable darkness underneath the corridor. There were a few sections that were sturdier, resisting their weight with ease. Every time they reached one of them, they stayed still, evaluating the presence of Shadows nearby. It was like every time they reached safety a new wave of Shadows would arrive – how were they supposed to continue on through this fragile area if they were supposed to fight every two minutes?!

"I got this!" Undyne yelled, a flurry of spears piercing through a Shadow before they could even see what it was. One of the spears flew astray, hitting one of the dim lights decorating the walls, shattering it and sending sparks flying everywhere. Some of the sparks landed on the sawdust-covered floor. At first there was no smoke, just a very small portion of smoldering wood, but nobody noticed. Almost everyone was busy trying to keep the Shadows away. Only Monster Kid, being able to look around without having to focus on something else, saw the scorched area expand very slowly, glowing a threatening orange color.

"Yo, guys? Guys!"

Cohen turned his head around, noticing what Monster Kid was alarmed about. "Everyone run!"

As if the fire had been waiting for them to notice it, flames erupted onto the floorboards. It was like a fountain of fire opened. Red and orange fire filled the place, spreading through the dead wood of the floorboards and onto the plaster, covering the walls. The team ran, confident the fire behind them would keep any Shadows away. Beneath them there was a scrapping noise, like something was being dragged on wood. Perhaps attracted by the fire?

The scrapping noise turned into a blast ahead of them. A large branch, with many red leaves, pierced through the floor, slamming onto the roof. Undyne, having been ahead of everyone, crashed against the branch, the wood resisting the blow as if it was made of steel. Cursing and swearing loudly, Undyne punched the branch. In response, another branch emerged, some distance away forward. "Move to the right!" she told everyone.

"I got this!" Syphus led the charge, just in case. "I'm holding this back!" trying to run as fast as possible to gain some distance, Syphus tried to materialize Hecatoncheir near the branch even if it was far, and grappled it with its many arms. The branch twisted, trying to get out of its grasp, but Syphus' Persona held it tight. "Come on, get moving!" he yelled at everyone.

The team ran as fast as they could. Undyne broke the branch with her Persona, freezing it and then shattering it with a spear, and pretty much flew over the floor, reaching Syphus' side before everyone else. Cohen wasn't too far away; he ran quite fast for an old man. Ananas and Monster Kid were about to reach them when a third branch sprouted, shattering the floorboards and embedding itself right into the ceiling. _This can't be good!_ Red leaves flew through the gaps in the floorboards, the floor started falling apart, starting from the part the branch had broken through. Ananas had barely gotten to the rest's side when they all heard the sound of Monster Kid falling onto the floor. He gave a muffled cry, trying to get up immediately.

"MK!" Ananas cried, running back towards him before Cohen could restrain her so she wouldn't put herself in danger. Syphus tried to go behind them, but his foot smashed through the floor, getting him stuck. _No!_

Luckily, Undyne didn't panic. She didn't hesitate, she dashed and reached Monster Kid and Ananas before the monster even got up to his knees and, seeing she wouldn't be able to turn around and run back in time, she jumped the widening gap, landing on the other side of the crumbling hallway.

Once the floorboards stopped collapsing, everyone dared to approach the edges of the chasm that had formed in the hallway. Syphus crouched and carefully tested the stability of the floorboards. It seemed it wouldn't all fall apart as long as no more branches broke through the floor. "What was all that, anyway? It was like a tree was attacking us" Cohen wondered, watching Undyne pace from side to side of the hallway while the kids waited for her verdict.

"It was a Shadow, most likely. Either many of them, or a very big one"

"We should get moving before it comes back"

Unsure if they should yell at Undyne or not, Syphus decided to leave aside that basic precaution for communication's sake. It was unlikely they'd be able to talk to her unless they shouted. "Undyne! How's it looking over there?"

"We're safe! But there's no way to get over there by walking"

"Our Personas can float" Cohen reminded Syphus, who shouted that immediately. Maybe there wasn't a problem! Undyne summoned Geiravor and carefully got on the horse armor, finding out it indeed was solid. Touching the Persona was a weird experience, it felt like something was making direct contact with her very SOUL.

"This feels strange but it'll work!" Undyne said. Monster Kid said something to her Syphus couldn't hear, but he did see her grin vanished, replaced by a contemplative expression. She looked between Ananas and Monster Kid and yelled back "Syphus, bring a Persona over here"

"I, uh, okay!" it was convenient Personas could levitate. Even the rather misshapen mess that was Hecatoncheir could. He had been about to move Hecatoncheir to the other side of the chasm when Cohen stopped him.

"Don't you have a Persona that isn't so...I dunno...horrifying?"

"Does the appearance even matter?" true, Hecatoncheir had several heads fused together, so many arms he couldn't count them, and in Syphus' opinion it seemed to be in eternal pain, but right now that wasn't important. "What matters is that they can bring one of them" he was pretty sure that was what Undyne was asking him for a Persona.

Cohen grimaced. "I wouldn't want that thing putting its hands on me"

"Fine" a bit frustrated but also conceding Cohen had a point about how horrible his Persona was, Syphus browsed the few Personas he had brought. Lately Personas were...not very pleasant to the eye. He went for the one he considered resembled a monster the most. In front of Syphus a tall leopard replaced Hecatoncheir and glided towards the other group.

Undyne settled everything. She decided she'd ride on her Persona, with Ananas hanging onto her, while Syphus' Persona would carry Monster Kid. Monster Kid let himself be carried without moving, looking down at the chasm below, undoubtedly imagining how it'd be like to fall in there. Only when he was placed safely back with the rest, he blinked, his legs trembling.

"Yo...that was scary..."

"Is everyone okay?" Syphus asked. It seemed everybody was unhurt, just shaken by what had happened. Everyone knew it was possible the tree would strike at them again, and there was nothing they could do to stop that from happening if it did.

The trek through the rest of the hallway took a while, they continued with the same strategy they had before. Even though they fought noisily, even though all of their attacks caused havoc in the hallway, there were no branches or leaves getting in the way anymore. Had that been a one-time thing? Syphus cleaved a Writhing Tiara with his halberd, making sure Monster Kid was behind him. "See any other Shadows, guys?"

"None" Cohen confirmed.

"Everything's okay!" since a while ago Monster Kid was helping examine everything and stay alert for any Shadows or changes to their surroundings. He had been the first one to notice the fire, after all.

"We have been in this hall forever!" Ananas complained, cleaning the metal of the gun with her sleeve. "Where even are we?!"

Syphus still was sure this was her former home, just that it was contorted and warped into the abnormally long hallway they were in now. If it wasn't for Cohen breaking lights along the way to make sure they really were advancing, they'd think they were all walking in the same section of hallway. "At least it's not so dark now" Cohen said "It's gotten better lately"

"It won't be dark for long, I see a light ahead" Undyne said, and indeed, at the end of the narrow hallway, there was a light, like a doorway. Undyne stopped, Geiravor almost touching the light. "There's no other way than through here"

"If there's something waiting for us on the other side, whoever goes first's going to get attacked" Cohen mused, breaking formation to approach Undyne. "We need-"

She didn't even wait for him to finish what he was saying. Slowly, her Persona exited the corridor, going outside. For a moment her Persona stayed there while Undyne waited to see if anything happened. Although she expected it, when the Selfish Basalt fell on Geiravor she still stumbled back, in pain. "It's more of those!"

"We have been tearing through them like they're wet paper. They'll be no problem" Cohen said dismissively. Assured there's nothing too threatening out there, the team left the corridor, arriving to a much more open area.

Any doubts anyone could have about Celia's soul were gone once they were outside. It undoubtedly was a city. Gray, faded, looking like it was going to vanish the moment they looked away, the city was much more depressing than they all thought it'd be. Despite missing the place so much, even though she was bitter about being in the Underground and wanted to return up to the surface, it didn't look desirable at all. The sky was an intense purple color, with clouds swirling around.

It didn't help there were so many clumps of rocks – Selfish Basalts. "Why are there so many of those? Is this meant to say something about her personality?" Syphus wondered, keeping his eyes on the basalts while they approached.

"I really hope not" Cohen admitted, uneasy at the amount of Shadows around them. "We're only using the attacks that hit as many as possible, right?"

"That's right"

"Keep Monster Kid safe!" Undyne requested, her Persona hovering over her. The Shadows kept approaching, murmuring menacingly, until around the team there was a circle of clumps of rock, their hands extending towards them, the masks on the Shadows having the same depressing blue face. "What's their weak point?"

"Any kind of magic! Go!" Syphus yelled, immediately starting to attack. Quickly, he changed Personas to the only one that had elemental magic to hurt more than one target at once. "Kushinada, we're gonna freeze them!"

Pandemonium followed. Everyone was using their Personas to use as many magic attacks as they could. Kushinada raised her arms, a gust of ice enveloping several basalts at once. Ananas' crackling fire burst from inside the basalts, chunks of rocks flying and vanishing into clouds of particles. Cohen's thunder ripped through the sky, a row of them crashing onto the basalts. Undyne was the only one not fighting them, instead guarding Monster Kid and keeping at bay any basalts that approach, batting them away with her spears. The child was made a ball on the floor, looking up and trying to stay as close as possible to Undyne's protection, wanting to be as safe as possible. It was like all the Shadows were trying to target him.

"There are too many!" Ananas yelled, starting to an intense headache from exertion.

"Syphus, I don't think we'll last much longer" Cohen agreed, resisting better but already showing signs of fatigue. Syphus himself was beginning to have a headache, the stress of having to focus with his Persona and deciding how to attack was getting to him. Looking around with worry, he took a decision:

"We have to keep walking!"

"To where?" Cohen staggered back, Ajax blocking a blow that'd have hit him directly.

"Wherever we can!" all he knew for sure is that staying for too long would expose them further to the endless onslaught, and tire them out after a while. Syphus looked around, trying to gauge any possible escape routes. Beyond the basalts there was an expanse of concrete surrounded by a chain-link fence, and beyond that, gray buildings, lots of them, as far as the eye could see. The fence followed the perimeter of the place they were at, only being interrupted by a strange, disquieting mass of rock in the middle of the concrete. It was as if there was a piece of mountain there – and knowing where they were at, chances were it was a piece of Mt. Ebott.

It was a better option than getting crushed by the basalts. "Over there!" Syphus pointed in the right direction and, without waiting for his teammates to give any indication they heard, he waved a hand, Kushinada healed everybody in preparation for the run. Syphus ran, swinging the halberd with difficulty, hearing behind him how everybody else was running not too far behind. Judging by the sounds of Shadows fading away, a couple team members were blasting them away, clearing the path. He hoped Monster Kid was safe, protected by the team.

Just like he thought: it was like a piece of Mt. Ebott was stuck in middle of the city. There were bits of mountain vegetation in the rocks, what seemed to be a tree, dry and brittle, and among the rocks there was a cave. They had two options: either they climbed the mountain, got to the top and descended to the other side, or they went into the cave. Both possibilities had a lot of disadvantages, there was no good choice. Which one would carry the least trouble, then?

"We should climb!" Undyne proposed, noticing why Syphus was hesitating. Ananas whimpered.

"I don't think I can! I'm really tired!"

"Annie's right. We should go into the cave – it'll be less exhausting" Syphus said, his Persona freezing another Selfish Basalt that tried to approach. Monster Kid nodded in agreement. Cohen shone the plates on the knuckles of his gloves, disappointed.

"It doesn't matter what I say, so let's get in there already" three votes supported going into the cave, after all. Not even bothering to assemble the formation they had been using until now, Cohen went in first, punches in the air as if he was ready to knock out anything that got in the way. The rest followed him, panting.

Luckily, the basalts didn't follow them in. They were alone, only with each other and their Personas filling the place. Despite being a cave, they could all see rather well. The more they went into the cave, the air turned stale, the atmosphere cooled down. From somewhere it seemed water was dripping. "Yo, this is creepy..." Monster Kid commented to Ananas, who was jumpy and inhaled sharply when Monster Kid said that.

"He's right. I don't think Celia's okay" Cohen said.

"I know. Maybe seeing her Shadow is for the best" it was pretty clear Celia's psyche was tormented, maybe unstable, colored by her bitterness and the constant anger and depression she felt. Everything since they arrived into the soul indicated that. "Once we get out of here I want to keep talking to her"

"That'd do her some good" Cohen agreed, solemn. "She and I weren't really close. I arrived when she was already grown up, and back then I remember she was..." he said something so softly Syphus didn't hear it.

"I didn't catch that one. She was what?"

"...bitter" _Oh. So even back then she was..._ Now that he thought about it, it did fit Syphus' own memories of Celia. The Celia he had known had been a child living in a dilapidated house for a while already, accompanied by another child. Even back then she had been cheerful, friendly... until she felt desperation. In her desperation, she had attacked Asriel back then, trying to get him to give her all his gold. Later, after Asriel got her to snap out of it, she was very remorseful, but the fact was that she had attacked him.

A bad feeling wormed into Syphus. _No, she wouldn't have done that in this world too, right?_ Not to Asriel, because that was impossible, but...

What exactly were the circumstances behind her paralyzing injury?

"Then she got injured. I didn't see her for a while" Cohen continued "Toriel took care of her all that time, and then when she rolled on that wheelchair outside I went to greet her" the old man stopped, his voice taking a bit of a monotone quality "She was friendly, but I felt a bit creeped out. Felt to me she was putting on a mask, you know what I mean? Like she wanted to hide how she really felt"

"That's rough..." maybe even now she was hiding her feelings.

Cohen looked around. "And now we're deep in her soul and we see what's inside. There are so many Shadows. You know their names?" Along the way they had fought many Shadows, and now that he thought about it...each one of them had adjectives that hinted very well her emotional state. Desirous. Crying. Writhing. Liberating. Eternal. Arcane. Selfish. Even a couple that were rather alarming: 'Death Seeker' 'Execution Sword'.

If that was the kind of Shadows that inhabited her SOUL then she was in urgent need of help.

"Yo, take a look at this!" in front of them, Monster Kid had advanced ahead of them, trying to not get in the way of Cohen and Syphus' conversation. The young monster had reached Undyne, and together they were picking up papers from the floor. The floor of the cavern was covered with them, leaving almost no space untouched. "What do you think these are?" he wondered, sweeping them around with his tail.

"I dunno, but they look old" Undyne said, frowning and reading some of what was on it "It's nothing. A bunch of scribbles and doodling"

"Is there something over there?" Ananas pointed at the depths of the cavern. They had almost reached the end, there seemed to be a large round space at the end. The floor was entirely covered with more papers and red dried leaves. Having noticed the place they had arrived at, Cohen got to the center of the room and looked around.

"Looks like we got to a dead end"

"That's it? We got all the way here just to get to a dead end?!" Undyne shouted, running forward and delivering a superb dropkick onto the back wall. The entire room shook, the red leaves and papers flew in the air because of the impact, but nothing happened. "You gotta be kidding!"

"No sign of Celia's Shadow, too. I admit I'm clueless about where she could be" Syphus said. Clearly they weren't in that dead end. He had turned around to leave when a wind picked up in the room. The ground beneath them shook, behind them they felt a presence start to emanate. Turning around, halberd ready to attack, Syphus saw how the papers whirled in the air. The papers formed a sphere, large and strange. "Get ready, everyone!"

"Is that Celia's Shadow?" Ananas aimed at the sphere. Some of the papers parted, revealing something inside, in the core of the sphere: a small, almost toy-like figure, with a staff.

"I don't think it's Celia or her Shadow, but I don't think we have a choice here. Either we fight or we die"

"Then let's get this done!" Undyne shouted, pushing Monster Kid towards the tunnel so he'd be a little safer, and faced the entity attacking them. Syphus, getting his Persona ready, tried to analyze the Shadow, see what they were dealing with.

 **Green Sigil**

 _Avoid using electricity. Don't expect to be able to defend yourself against it_

Green? Given how this was inside a soul, could it be...he didn't finish his analysis before the Sigil waved its staff, gluing everyone on the spot they were at. Cohen struggled, pulling from his legs. "I can't move!"

"It turned our SOULs green!" Undyne informed them, her spear in front of her. Unlike how she used to do it, the Sigil gave them no means of defense. Having immobilized them, the Sigil raised its arms, from them several orbs of purple plasma emerged, passing through the shell of paper and crashed into the team. The contact of that energy against them felt bizarre. It was like they were enveloped by warmth and extreme cold at once. He recognized it almost immediately: the same kind of advanced attack the Shadows in the depths of the Ruins had tried to use against him. If the analysis was correct, then they could do nothing to defend themselves against that.

The only option they had was to defeat it before it whittled down their life away.

"Undyne, what can we do?" Syphus asked, hoping she'd be able to help them. With a grunt, she focused on him, trying to turn Syphus' SOUL back to normal. It felt like something inside his chest shook. Feeling something had changed, Syphus jumped forward, diving underneath the paper shell and stabbing with the spike on the end of the halberd. The spike passed through the paper, reaching the Sigil, the small figure grabbing the halberd and pulling from it. "Turn the rest back to normal!" Syphus shouted at Undyne while he struggled to get the Shadow to let go of the halberd.

The captain of the Royal Guard tried to get Ananas free. The girl stumbled forward, falling to the floor, but she summoned Hippolyta anyway, getting her to smack the sphere of paper with her giant axe, crashing the Shadow against the wall. Rocks fell from the ceiling, the Sigil recovered and aimed at Syphus again. "What's the plan?!" Ananas asked, Hippolyta intercepting the Sigil's action and turning the girl's SOUL green again.

"I'm thinking!" Syphus shouted, looking around frantically. There has to be a way to—"

"We got this!" While Ananas froze in her place, her Persona vanishing, Undyne managed to set herself free, immediately making a few spears that could be of use, surrounding the Green Sigil. A ball of energy descended onto Undyne. The captain raised her hand, her Persona Geiravor lunging upwards and blocking the attack with itself, attempting to bat the ball away and failing. The energy enveloped Geiravor's lance, Undyne seizing and withstanding the blow admirably. Some of the spears surrounding the Sigil vanished, the rest were propelled into the Shadow immediately.

None of them reached the core of the Shadow, all of them hit some of the paper sheets, the paper falling to the floor. Some of the few that had been shed before levitated and returned to the sphere, covering some of the holes the spears had done on the shell. The papers Ananas were standing on shuddered, the corners bending upwards, but ultimately didn't fly back to the Shadow.

All that happened in the space of around ten seconds, but to Syphus it felt like much more. He saw it all develop and bring forth inspiration. "Cohen!"

"Yeah?" he was still in the same place than before, held down by his now-green SOUL, his Persona above Monster Kid to protect him against any attacks from the Sigil.

"Always be ready to strike at the Shadow inside the ball. Undyne, Annie! You have to attack the shell as much as you can!" his plan was simple enough, it all relied on he choosing the right teammates for each part. Ananas and Undyne, being the ones with some form of long-range attack that didn't rely on their Personas, were in charge of weakening the paper sphere. Syphus and Cohen then would hit the Shadow itself with everything they had, Cohen hitting physically and Syphus providing magic and healing Cohen whenever necessary. And then... _I hate to ask this from him, but we're going to need as much help as possible here._

"MK, you...hold as much of that paper down to the floor!"

"Are you crazy?!" Undyne chided him, not approving getting Monster Kid involved.

"You two also help him with that if you have the time!" he didn't like the idea of getting Monster Kid into the fight in any manner, but they needed to keep that shell away from forming again. Between the three of them they should be able to stay active despite the Shadow's attempts to keep them immobile. Syphus promised himself he'd keep Monster Kid safe even while this happened. "All of you use as little magic as possible! Limit yourself to your weapons or to physical attacks! Now go!"

Keeping Monster Kid defended was easier than expected. Even with their SOULs held down by the Green Sigil's magic, he was able to keep Kushinada as the healer and use her to keep the one monster in the group who was defenseless protected from any stray attacks. Cohen kept everyone's defense up while Undyne and Ananas struck the paper sphere as much as possible. Bullets and spears kept crossing the air, hitting paper over and over, sheets fluttering in the air in a constant deluge. It was difficult to see through it, most of the time they relied on their memory of where the Shadow was.

"I'm free!" Cohen said while Undyne, Syphus and Monster Kid were immobilized. With a huff, Cohen ran, smashing his fists against the paper shell over and over, battering it as fast as he could. Most of it was already gone, lying on the floor underneath dozens of spears and Monster Kid lying on a few of them. Taking advantage of the chance, Ananas aimed, a few bullets passing through the sheets and hitting the Green Sigil. The Sigil recoiled, floating towards the wall, cornered for Syphus' current Persona to swoop in and smack the Sigil with an open palm, retreating immediately.

Turning red, the Sigil raised its staff, the paper shell opening enough for it to fly and try to hit Ananas with its staff. It looked largely ineffective, and when Hippolyta was placed in the way to protect its user, it didn't seem like much damage was done. "It's our chance!" Syphus said, taking Monster Kid from the floor and going towards the cavern tunnel "Attack all you can!"

"Ngaaaah! Die already!" Undyne's Persona lunged forward lance-first, burying it into the Sigil. The Shadow barely had time to recover when a large ball of fire impacted on it, the heat setting fire to the paper. Overwhelmed by the constant attacking, the Shadow fell to the floor, the pyre of paper falling on it, consuming it until a burst of fog emerged from the hill. "It's gone!"

"Yo, we won?" Monster Kid tried to look from behind Syphus. He nodded.

"We won. Finally"

"That was the old human's shadow?"

"I don't think so. She's nowhere to be seen" Cohen said, dusting off his gloves. "Now what, Syphus?"

"I'm not sure. I hope this wasn't for nothing or—" what he was saying was interrupted by everything being shaken by an earth tremor. Running, everyone hurried to the tunnel, running until the rumbling stopped. "Is everyone okay?"

"Everything fine!" Ananas said. The others echoed her, relieved nobody was hurt "What was that?"

"Whatever it was has to be important somehow. Undyne, you and I will go check. The rest should stay with Monster Kid" The tremor had changed the room they had just been in.

To Syphus it was like seeing something familiar. Just like he remembered from in the version of Mt. Ebott Frisk's SOUL had, there was a large, round hole now in the far end of the chamber. With Undyne holding him from a hand, Syphus peered into the chasm, trying to see the bottom. All he could see was the inky, deep blackness inside the hole. Was it a path to follow, or would it lead to their doom?

"See anything, punk?" Undyne asked, pulling him back with ease. Syphus shook his head.

"Nothing. I can't tell if we should get down there or not"

"It's not like we have any other option! We gotta get in there and see where it takes us" Getting down the hole wouldn't be too difficult. Their Personas would carry them down – Cohen's was the only one that _maybe_ would be unable to, but that could be easily tested in a moment. Taking Monster Kid with them wouldn't be too difficult, thanks to his size and being so light. Overall descending into the depths of the earth wasn't going to be a problem.

The problem was knowing if that was the right move or not.

"You don't know it we should dive in there"

"I'm trying to think. We're in Celia's SOUL, therefore everything in it is related to her and her feelings somehow. The Shadows, the environment, the atmosphere, everything is connected in some way" Syphus sat against the wall. Everybody else was waiting some distance away while Undyne and Syphus talked, but it wasn't like there was any hurry right now. Everyone needed to take a break, anyway "If this hole appeared then there must be a reason"

"Isn't it just because we shook things around a lot when we beat up the wizard Shadow thing?"

It could be, he had to admit, but... "Maybe not. There could be another reason. What if there was a psychological reason for it?"

"That's nothing I'd know. You eggheads know more than me about that" Undyne shrugged, unsure where this was going.

"I'm not an egghead! Look, I'm pretty sure this is Mt. Ebott...in middle of the city, for reasons I'm not sure about" _Chalking it up to Celia's psyche making things like this._ There was no point in trying to give it more of an explanation than that. "That means beneath us there should be the Underground. I don't know what part it'll be, but it's down there"

A human who fell into the Underground almost a century ago and never had the chance to return to the surface. Maybe they were looking in the wrong place for her Shadow. The deepest recesses of her soul wouldn't be the city she was born at and lived at for just a few years, the town and surface she wanted to return to. Maybe the very core of her soul was the prison that had been holding her for so long.

"We should try to get to the human village in Waterfall"

"You think she's in there?"

"I think there's a chance she is. We should go take a look, and since here we have a way to get into the Underground..." it was a plan to follow for the time being. Better that than going around aimlessly in Celia's soul, at least. Undyne didn't seem very sure about this, but Syphus was more experienced than her about diving into souls. She was willing to listen to him.

-ooooo-

"Their weakness is ice! Undyne, we're leaving this up to you!" her magic wasn't very strong, but if it dazed the Eternal Eagles swooping up from the depths of the hole then it was good enough. "Quick!" he pleaded, trying to shake off the eagle that had latched onto his arm, its talons burying into his armor. The block of ice freezing the eagle stopped the attack, giving him enough time to hold onto his Persona.

The descent had been going well. Cohen's Persona had Monster Kid in its large hands, carrying the child in one hand while the other kept the eagles at bay with its sword. The old man was holding onto Ajax's visor, standing on a shoulder. The others were precariously carried by their own Personas, not in the most comfortable positions but it was better than falling down the hole with no parachute at all.

Turned out the hole was very deep. It took several minutes of uninterrupted descent at good speed to see a change in their surroundings. Branches and red leaves were visible on the cliffs around them, snaking and forming a rather ominous wall. After how those branches had broken the hallway before, Syphus really hoped none of those would try to make the rock walls collapse on them.

It most likely wasn't a coincidence that, the denser and thicker the branches turned, the more Eagles there were. Just what was the source of the branches?

"How much deeper is this hole?!" Ananas shouted, holding onto Hippolyta with fear. The thought of falling was paralyzing for her. Syphus looked down, trying to see deeper into the darkness.

"I don't know"

"It can't be too deep; the Underground isn't that far beneath the mountain" Cohen said "We have been going down for a while" in the real world Cohen would be right. In the world of Celia's soul that wasn't a certainty.

Keeping the Shadows away was difficult, given they had to stay focused on clinging to their Personas and not fall, but in general they weren't doing too badly. The only real problem happened once they got to the bottom of the hole, and that was because they had found their objective: Celia herself.

The floor at the bottom of the hole was completely covered with roots. Knotty, gnarly roots went in and out of the earth, like it was trying to grasp the planet itself, and in the center of it all, sitting on her wheelchair, was Celia, seemingly unconscious. "She's here!" Syphus jumped off his Persona, letting it fade while he hurried to grab the old woman's head, trying to look at her face. "Celia, are you okay? We're here!"

"How's she looking?" Cohen was right behind him, looking at Celia with apprehension.

"She doesn't seem to be hurt, but she's not waking up. Maybe her Shadow caught her"

"Like with Undyne?"

"Kind of. I'm not sure—"

"Yo, look at the wheels!" Monster Kid's voice got their attention. Having a bad feeling about this, Syphus looked at the wheels, immediately seeing what had gotten his attention.

It was like her wheelchair had fused with a tree stump. The wheels divided into roots, the spokes showing a transition between metal and wood. Trying to move the chair got no results, it was the same as if trying to move an oak with your bare hands. "She's not moving!" Syphus cried, trying to pry some of the roots off the wheels. Undyne strolled forward, grabbing the handles of the wheelchair and pulling, grunting and turning pale from the effort.

"Ngaaah! She's stuck!"

"We may have to cut the wheels, see if we can get the rest of the chair off..."

Cohen grabbed Celia by the shoulders, slowly making her lean forward. "Or we could carry her. Come on, let's get out of here. Got the brooch?"

"I have it, yeah..." Cohen and Syphus tried to get the crone off the chair. They managed to pull her off a few inches before they hit a snag. "Something's wrong"

Ananas approached, getting her hands into the chair. "There are vines tying her to the chair!"

"I could aim a spear in there and tear that apart" Undyne said, a spear materializing in her hand. Cohen glared at her.

"Are you crazy?! We need something smaller than a spear!"

"None of us have a knife. Our weapons are much larger than a spear too..." Syphus left her sitting again on the wheelchair like they found her. Having a bad feeling about this, he held her head until Celia's eyes fluttered open, she was slowly waking up.

Her stare was vacant, the color of her eyes was golden instead of the deep shade of green they usually were. _No!_ "Her Shadow caught up to her!"

"Are you sure?"

"Her eyes don't lie!" like them realizing her Shadow had taken possession of her body was what she had been waiting for, Celia opened her eyes entirely. Syphus stepped back, scared, holding her hands up.

"...finally...you came to kill me?"

"No! We're here to rescue her"

"Rescue" Celia sneered for a moment before dropping her head, like she didn't have the strength to keep her head up "I lost hope a long time ago, child. I'm never getting rescued. I'm rotting down here..."

" _Child_? Seriously?"

"It feels like I have lived for a thousand years. I don't want any of that anymore. I just want to die" she looked up, her eyes clouded with tears "Please...kill me"

If her Shadow was begging for death, then that meant Celia herself wanted death. Syphus really hoped the Shadow was exaggerating that desire. "We're not gonna do that!" Cohen said, raising his fists. "Leave my friend alone and we'll get out of here immediately"

"You...Cohen, of course it's you" like it was the first time she noticed someone else was around, Celia looked at everyone with extreme coldness. "Cohen and Annie...what I wouldn't do to make you have a taste of the despair I have suffered for a hundred years" the humans didn't know what to say to that. The vitriol in her voice was obvious. Celia turned her attention at the monsters, her lips a thin line. "Monsters...can you take my soul already?"

"No!" Undyne shouted, that was exactly what Celia didn't want to hear. The old woman scowled, her face contorting in a nasty manner.

"Monsters are cowards. They have an easy target and they do nothing. You should be ashamed of yourselves"

Slowly, the roots started moving up the wheelchair, enveloping it further. The vines and leaves that surrounded Celia enveloped her slowly, propping her up unnaturally, like a stiff mannequin. "All I want is to rest. Is that so much to ask for? If you're not going to give it to me, then I will force your hand!"

"It's happening!" Syphus warned, brandishing his halberd. It was only matter of time before Celia's Shadow would attack them, and by the looks of this, it was going to happen now. He was rather nervous he'd be forced to attack someone as fragile and old as Celia, but there was no other option. They had done this before several times, they just had to be careful!

The wood and leaves enveloped Celia like a cocoon, wheelchair included. With a rumble, the ball of wood levitated off the ground, rising a few meters above the floor, wind swirling around it, the branches extending to the walls and every rocky surface in the depths of earth. _Oh my god..._ The outer layer of the cocoon grew at an alarming rate, reaching the floor and affixing itself to the ground, connecting to the branches and roots everywhere in Celia's soul, shaking the entire cavern.

"What's the plan?" Ananas asked Syphus, eyes on the cocoon. Syphus glanced at Monster Kid, his mind working as fast as it could.

"Protect him at all costs! The rest of us will fight Celia. Let's be on the defensive until we know what she can do"

"Whatever you say!" Cohen approved, ready to summon Ajax and fight.

The outer layers of the wooden cocoon flaked off, revealing what was underneath. Bone, hair, fabric, it was like a dead woman was being born from a tree. From within, the Shadow broke the cocoon, rising up, half of its body having turned into the tree that clung to everything on the cavern. The rest of Celia was a skeleton, long, wavy hair clinging to her skull, a scowl being the only expression it had, her hands crossed over the tattered robe covering her.

"I'm going to make you give me the eternal rest I want!" Shadow Celia shouted, her voice screechy, the red leaves around her flying in the air and smacking the team right ahead. It was like a burst of fire, the leaves ignited, a wave of fire enveloping everybody. Heat seared the ground, scorch marks appeared on the dirt, only the Personas protecting them saved them from painful injuries. Syphus covered his face with his arms, peeking through them once the fire was gone, Celia's shadow inside the tree was swaying back and forth.

"By now I know it's useless to ask, but you have nothing useful to tell about her, right?" Cohen asked, already enhancing everyone's defense. Just in case, Syphus requested an analysis of their opponent.

 **Shadow Celia, Strength Arcana**

"Nothing!" if the Shadow used fire often, then Ananas was the only one who had some resistance to her. _Maybe I should have kept her in the team_! "Cohen, you attack as much as you can. Undyne and I are backing you up"

It was worth a try, in his opinion. Cohen was strong enough to endure whatever the Shadow could do. Nodding and accepting his role, Cohen summoned his Persona, raising the sword and striking the Shadow right between the branches. Shadow Celia made no effort to block it. Two branches fell, sliced through cleanly, and with a shudder they got roots into the ground. The branches grew, turning into whip-like appendages. "What's that?!"

"I got it!" Undyne leaped forward, grabbing the branch whip and trying to tear it off the ground. With a victorious grunt, she pulled, the whip lashing and writhing, trying to break off her grasp, before it coiled around her torso and lifted her up the ground. "It's strong!" she noted right before it threw her to the other side of the room. With a crash, Undyne was embedded into the rock wall, but she didn't mind it. "We're fighting something good here!"

"We're not here to have fun, we're here to defeat it!" Syphus said, swinging the halberd to chop down the other whip, all he got for that was a smack right on the face, throwing him to the floor. Yelling, Cohen punched the bark of the Shadow, the tall skeleton staring down at him with contempt.

"It's useless..." it moaned, leaves falling off its branches and floating up the sky, where they light up brightly, raining all over them with a glittery powder. _What's this?!_ The glitter fluttered down to the ground, the moment it touched the dirt, wide columns of bright light emerged, forcing him to move.

"Keep going!" he shouted at Cohen, running from the columns sprouting where he was, unable to see anything but light. Every time he blinked he could see many colors, dazzled by the beacons. "I can't see anything!"

"I'm okay!" Undyne said, her Persona Geiravor using an ice spell against the Shadow. Behind her, the branch she had been fighting with was withering away, defeated. Ice crystals covered other branches, they fell to the ground and sprouted roots like those from before, the trunk was surrounded by several whips, a wall that was difficult to overcome. "This is never gonna end!"

"Then stop making branches fall—" his order was interrupted when light erupted beneath him. It was like he had been doused with warm water, but it made him feel exhausted. Was it sapping his strength? He felt like lying down and doing nothing, like he had been liberated from any responsibility.

Only when the pillar of light vanished he felt the shock to his system. Syphus shakily stepped back, trying to put some distance between himself and the Shadow so he wouldn't be targeted by such attack again. He barely felt when someone pulled from his sleeve, driving him away. He was dazzled, he kept seeing colorful spots. Blinking rapidly, he soon found himself on the back of the chamber, in a relatively safe spot. "Are you okay?" a small hand appeared in front of him, waving.

"...huh?" disoriented, he looked aside. Ananas fanned him with her hat.

"That looked like it hurt"

"Yo! It was like a light burst out of the ground!" Monster Kid said "It was kind of scary!"

Syphus pressed a hand against his forehead. He could hear Undyne and Cohen fighting the best they could, he heard Cohen shouting to try to get the branches' attention. "We aren't getting anywhere with this"

"I want to join" Ananas said, spinning the barrel of the bizarre gun Alphys gave her. Syphus frowned underneath his hand. That'd leave Monster Kid unprotected! _Then again... If we three die, then MK and Annie are getting killed anyway._ It was more of a matter of leaving Monster Kid unprotected right now or keeping him safe for the time being but risking everyone's demise.

"Join us" Syphus requested "We can't do this without you" he pointed at Monster Kid, hoping the child would understand the gravity of the situation "Stay here. Try to stay out of sight"

"I'll be quiet" he promised. That was all Syphus needed to hear. Having gotten that, he tried to ignore his aching eyes and gripped his halberd tighter.

"Annie, keep the leaves away from us. Try to get rid of them in the air!"

"I got fire!" Ananas agreed with the plan. Even if fire didn't get rid of the leaves, at least it should blast them away from the team!

They didn't have to wait long for her to help them. Cohen managed to strike the trunk of the Shadow, his fist connecting against the wood with an audible crack. Bark splintered away, the skeleton towering above him doubled over, the eyesockets shining ominously. "That's not enough!" she shrieked, the entirety of the tree shaking, releasing a torrent of red dried leaves. Cohen's Persona curled over him, the plates on its back forming a dome above Cohen's head.

Leaves fluttered down, already shining with a white light, when a burst of fire crossed the chamber. Hippolyta kept waving the axe, streams of flames burning up the leaves, Ananas underneath it waving her arms at the same time. "Keep hitting!" Nodding, Cohen punched again. Unable to move and do nothing but writhe, Shadow Celia's bones rattled, she screamed like she was being torn apart. Even though she had been goading them all she could, she also tried to resist the attacks once they connected with her.

"Over there!" the whips on the ground snaked towards Cohen before being pinned on the ground by Undyne's spears. "You're not gonna get to him again!" she shouted at the Shadow and resumed her attacks on the whips, pouncing upon one and clinging to it with all her weight. Uninterrupted, Cohen kept striking the tree.

It was unexpectedly effective. Free to hit the Shadow over and over, with Ananas protecting everyone from the leaves and Undyne fighting the whips, Cohen and Syphus hit and slashed the tree trunk as much as they could. From time to time a transparent barrier shone, bouncing their attack back to them, but they kept jumping back to their feet, resuming their beating immediately. _That's it, this is how we win!_ Everyone was doing their part, the Shadow was too busy to even try to think of attacking Monster Kid, and Monster Kid was hiding as far away as possible from the Shadow. It was a good plan!

If they had been left alone, they'd have finished the Shadow not too long afterwards, but the entire chamber shook, the branches and roots inside the walls and floor contracting. Cracks, fissures, pieces of rock rained down, forcing them to stop. "What's going on?!" Ananas asked, getting closer to Syphus. He put his arms over her head, protecting her.

"We're almost done! I think..." it did seem like that. The team stepped back while the tree retracted its roots and branches, everything curling behind the trunk. It was as if the rigidness of the tree had turned into spaghetti, only the skeleton of the Shadow remained standing, still imprisoned by the trunk. "It's got its guard down; this is our chance!"

"Your chance..." Shadow Celia laughed, her laugh being like stone scrapping against each other. "Yes it is" raising her head, the Shadow screeched at the ceiling, forcing everyone to cover their ears. Syphus's fingers curled around his ears, thankfully not getting any ill effects from the screech.

Cohen and Ananas weren't as lucky, though. "Syphus!"

"We'll keep going—hey, what are you doing?!" Syphus hadn't even finished his sentence when Ananas and Cohen ran forward, eyes ablaze with fury. Ananas stopped near the trunk, aiming and shooting at the cranium and, when her gun ran out of ammunition, she didn't even stop to charge it back, instead she threw it at the head of the Shadow. The bullets and the gun hit the bone, Shadow Celia's head crunching underneath them, much to her apparently glee.

"I'm going to tear this thing down!" Cohen yelled, punching the trunk without any consideration for his own fists. The leather of his gloves were shredded because of the constant attacks on the bark, skin made contact with the wood, bruising his knuckles without him noticing. He kept punching, until a loud thud interrupted the stream of punches he was giving.

Cohen fell, unconscious. The barrier that protected Shadow Celia from physical attacks sometimes had activated and, in his current state, all the force of his attack had gotten redirected to him. He was immediately knocked out – or worse "Undyne, revive him!" She ran to Cohen's prone form, lifting him with ease and taking out of her armor a revival bead. While she took care of that, Syphus focused on Shadow Celia. _We can't risk she doing that again._ The only option was to hit her with the strongest attack he could make with magic and hope for the best.

"Hell Biker!" Syphus yelled, the strongest magic Persona he had materializing in front of him. Just like Celia, it was a skeleton. Clad in biker's clothing, riding a motorcycle with its wheels on fire, the Persona revved the motorcycle, glaring at the Shadow. _I hope this will be enough!_ "Go!"

Like fireworks exploded between the ribs of the Shadow, a large ball of fire exploded outwards, covering the entirety of the visible skeleton. The hair fanned, the leaves and wood charred and crumbled away and, amidst all that, the trunk started to unravel. Underneath it there was no bones or wood, instead it was an empty space where Celia laid, curled up on a ball. Keeping his eyes on the Shadow crumbling apart, Syphus got into the empty space, grabbed Celia and, while surprised she was so light to carry, he took her out, to where Cohen was starting to recover. "Undyne, get Annie!"

Ananas still was trying to attack the Shadow, scrambling around for her gun so she could throw it again, only when Undyne lifted her she stopped, letting herself be carried away towards the rest. Shadow Celia made no attempt to stop them, instead slumping over once Celia had been taken away from her. The skeleton leaned dangerously close to the edge of the trunk, her hair covering her face and the robe willowing around her in a rather ominous manner. Syphus breathed heavily, tired, and went towards the rest, holding Celia like she was made of very fragile glass. "Is everyone okay?"

"Everybody's on their feet" Cohen said, looking away. Being knocked out right at the end was something he was rather embarrassed about "I'll bring MK" he said, walking away and calling for the child.

"How's she?" Undyne asked. Syphus sat down, propping Celia so she was sitting, and lightly patted her cheek, trying to wake her up.

"Celia, come on, wake up...it's us. You're safe"

"Is she hurt?" Ananas asked, worried.

"I don't think she is. She must be exhausted" it was hard to say with certainty since he didn't experience this himself. He had gotten lucky he was given his Persona directly instead of having to go through the entire ordeal, all things considered. "Let's give her some time to rest"

"She's not going to join us, right?"

"She's in no condition to join us—" Syphus shut up when Celia started opening her eyes. She moaned softly, moving her torso to take a better look at the person holding her.

"...Syphus?"

"Be quiet. We have to leave" he advised. Celia nodded meekly and turned her head around, seeing her Shadow.

"My god..."

"Any thoughts?" For a moment he considered putting the brooch on her so they could leave immediately before she could think much about her Shadow, but refrained from doing that. Maybe it was for the better for her to realize what was nesting in the depths of her heart, what her thoughts and feelings had created. Monster Kid and Cohen returned, Cohen keeping Monster Kid aside to not overwhelm Celia with too many people at once.

Although she was prompted to say something, Celia stayed silent, staring at the Shadow. Not even when it rose up, extending a skeletal hand towards them, she made any comment, she simply shrunk and feebly tried to get away. _She's rejecting her Shadow_. Celia wasn't going to get a Persona, that was for sure.

Startled at the Shadow trying to reach them, Ananas raised her gun and shot. That was all that was needed, the Shadow burst into a cloud of black smoke, leaving behind pieces of wood Undyne picked up. An oppressive silence filled the room. How were they supposed to talk about any of Celia's problems?

All they could do was leave.

Celia let him pin the brooch on her robe, she didn't even say anything when everyone gathered around her to ensure nobody was going to be left behind. Monster Kid tried to make conversation with her, just to know if she was okay, yet she ignored him, seemingly too shellshocked to talk.

-ooooo-

Returning to the real world didn't make her much better. Unlike those who had gained their Personas, those who rejected them didn't scream when they returned to the real world – but in Syphus' opinion it'd have been better for her to scream. Better that than looking like she had gone catatonic. Her expression of remorse and her refusal to look at them were the only indications she was relatively okay.

Not that they had long to think much about that. Upon their return, the first thing they heard was the sound of someone banging on the door insistently. Syphus yelped and ran to the door, taking off the thick piece of wood blocking it and letting whoever was outside open it fully.

"What's going on here?" said a voice that, although sounded gentle, clearly showed discontent and a demand for explanations. _...this may not go well._ Toriel stepped inside, followed by Byssa, who immediately hurried to Celia's side.

"We were taking care of her" Syphus said. Byssa sneered at them.

"With the door locked? You know that's very suspicious!"

Cohen leaned against the wall, trying to look more casual than he felt. "As you can see, she's okay now. That's what matters, no?"

"No, that's not what matters right now! I want to know why you were all locked in here—"

"Byssa, that's enough" Toriel said firmly. "Her wellbeing is far more important"

Byssa held Celia's hand, feeling it cold and feeble. "She doesn't look okay"

"She needs rest. You do not need to worry; I will take care of her"

"Uuuum...MK, your parents must be so worried about you! You should leave!" Ananas said, pretty much pulling from Monster Kid to drag him out of the cottage, he barely managing to keep the pace.

"Wait, you're not gonna tell my parents about this, are you...?"

"Children, wait—" Toriel tried to stop them, but they were gone. Staying with Celia was more important right now, she couldn't go pursue them to ask what was going on. Besides, she had several other people here to ask about that. "Captain Undyne, it's surprising to see you here"

Undyne wasn't intimidated by Toriel's cordial yet somehow scornful greeting. Instead she grinned widely, stood as tall as she was, and talked back. "I was visiting my _friends_ , your Majesty"

That was the right response. Even though Toriel didn't change her attitude towards Undyne, she did seem to feel at ease now. "I wasn't aware you had befriended them! Allow me to compliment you for your change of heart, captain Undyne"

Undyne's expression hardened somewhat. "Of course! Now if you excuse me, your Majesty, I have patrols to arrange" and without waiting for Toriel's reply, Undyne stepped out of the cabin. Syphus didn't hesitate to follow her, although before leaving he sneaked a glance at Toriel. The queen looked contemplative, but there also was a profound relief, relief she concealed when she noticed Syphus was looking at her. It wasn't proper to display her thoughts that much to them, in her opinion.

"Wait!" Syphus shouted at Undyne when they were going up the wooden stairs towards the rest of Waterfall "Undyne, what was that?"

The captain sighed, shaking her head. "I don't like the queen, that's all. Asgore is great, but the queen is..." she made a face like she had tasted something bitter "I don't see her often"

"Really? I thought..."

"You thought I'd see her all the time because I'm the captain of the Royal Guard?" Undyne laughed somewhat bitterly "No way. Before all this she and I didn't think the same way. She wanted to protect you humans, I wanted your souls. It was all for the sake of monsters! That's why I kept telling her she couldn't be protecting you all!"

It was times like these that Syphus was glad Undyne's opinion had changed. "You're not the type to stay silent about what you think"

"Of course I'm not!" she boasted "I always told her what I thought was right! And she always kept acting all high-and-mighty!"

"She's the queen"

"You know what I mean!" Undyne kicked a rock down the cliff with all her strength, and stomped into the tunnel towards Waterfall. "She thinks she knows everything!" for someone as proud and headstrong as Undyne, someone acting condescending towards her must have been rather annoying. Syphus was glad Toriel hadn't been like that to him – although he did agree completely Toriel had the bad habit of believing her opinion was the one everyone should follow. She had the best intentions, but her way of pushing her point of view over everyone else's was not right. "And you know what makes me angry the most? Do you?!"

"No, I don't"

"What kind of queen leaves behind her people?" Undyne's fins flared to the sides of her head, just thinking about Toriel's behavior made her rather angry "That's what I don't get, what's wrong with her?!"

Syphus bit the inside of his cheek. He couldn't blame Undyne for thinking that. "Yeah, you're right"

"I know, right? The big guy is a bit too soft, but at least he's with us. The queen isn't. She doesn't get to look down at us who are trying to help monsters get out of here when all she does is sit in the Ruins and do nothing" her gauntlets screeched when she curled her fists "She makes me really angry, Syphus, I don't wanna anything to do with her" without further comment, Undyne entered Waterfall, leaving Syphus behind.

 **You feel you understand Undyne a bit more.**

 **The Justice Social Link still isn't ready to rank up**

The relationships between the most notable monsters in the Underground was strained. Asgore and Toriel's marriage was on the brink of disaster, Toriel and Undyne were in rather bad terms, Alphys lied to everyone to get her current job, Papyrus had changed his dream of being a member of the Royal Guard, and Sans and Toriel didn't seem to even know each other.

Although there were a few positive relationships left, it was worrying there was so much trouble between the monsters. Was there really a way to fix any of that? He doubted it. Syphus was meant to be only a guide, he wasn't going to solve anyone's problems. If they didn't have the drive to solve their relationships, then there was nothing to be done.

Speaking of Toriel, she was likely to spend a lot of time in Celia's cottage, making sure she'd be okay. It'd be a while before he'd be able to talk to Celia and try to find out more about her feelings and problems.

For the time being he had to continue his life like usual – and also give Alphys the newest part for the Barrier-shattering weapon, and see what Sans, Toriel and Alphys could make with the materials gathered.

Now that there were people again falling down and needing rescue, he had to ensure they'd be on top shape at all times.


	41. Reconciliation

**Day 48**

Celia still wasn't available the next day.

"She's not feeling okay," Byssa admitted to Syphus that morning. Her usual rude attitude was gone, replaced by worry to the point she was willing to confide in Syphus. They were outside Celia's cabin, "Since yesterday she has said almost nothing. Just a lot of 'I'm sorry'"

"Maybe she just needs to rest for a while," Syphus said, hoping the old woman would get better soon. Nobody else had been affected so hard by the encounter with their Shadow. It was possible it was because Celia was feeling very guilty and depressed, especially now that people saw what her true emotions were. He really wanted to think it was that and not that they had done something wrong at some point. He was sure they did everything the same way they had the last five times, why would this one be any different?

Byssa gripped a cup of fresh water, the contents about to spill all over her. "Syphus, did she say anything yesterday?"

"Anything like what?"

"I dunno. Anything that could answer why she's like this"

 _She said a lot._ How was he supposed to tell her everything Celia felt? There just wasn't a right way to do that. Still, Byssa was Celia's family. If there was anyone who deserved to know about it it was her. Syphus put a hand over the door, thinking. Would Celia be angry if he told Byssa? Even if it was for the better? "She said a few things"

"Like what?"

"It'll take a while to explain...can we go talk in private?"

Byssa frowned, not liking the sound of that, but her concern for Celia pushed her to accept go have a private talk with Syphus. After telling him to wait, she entered the cottage, leaving the door open. Syphus was able to hear what they talked. "I have some water and I'll leave it here, alright, grandma?"

Since when did Byssa start calling her grandma? Syphus didn't remember that happening before. There was no response.

"Do you need anything? Like something to eat, or..."

"I'm okay" Celia said "Thank you"

"...I love you, grandma. You know that, right?"

"I do. Thank you"

Celia sounded distracted, vacant. It made him feel sick to his stomach. "If you need anything call me. I'll come immediately" she said, exiting the cabin, and gave a meaningful look at Syphus. "It's like her mood plummeted down or something. I don't get it"

It wasn't that surprising given what happened. Syphus and Byssa went to the chamber with the rock plateau. Byssa climbed to the top, sitting in the center and inviting Syphus to be up there with her. Once both were comfortable, with the sunshine shining over their heads from small holes on the ceiling, Byssa broke the silence: "You have something to tell me, don't you?"

"I do. This won't be easy to say, but I think you should hear this"

Curating the information wasn't easy. Mentioning anything about Personas was absolutely forbidden, of course, but he also didn't want to give the impression Celia had been forced to say anything. He had to embellish the story by saying Celia had said she wanted to talk to him. The problem was that the more he talked, the more Byssa was frowning.

"Why didn't she say anything to me?" she wondered, hurt.

Syphus winced, uncomfortable. That was the question he feared she'd ask. "I can't say I know, but if I had to guess, it's because you and she are close. Maybe she didn't want to worry you"

Byssa inhaled and exhaled through her teeth, a hiss escaping from her mouth. "We're family but we're not that close. I'm in my forties and she's more than a hundred years old, there's an entire generational breach here"

"I thought you two were inseparable!"

"We're not. Sometimes I think she doesn't trust me. To be honest, I'm jealous of you"

Syphus raised his eyebrows, surprised. There was no reason to be jealous of him! "Why?"

"Look, you arrived here like a month ago and she's telling you all this stuff. I have been with her for like thirty years and she doesn't trust me. You managed to get her to open up to you even though you haven't known her for as long as the rest of us. I don't get it at all" _I don't get it either._ He couldn't complain, but it was baffling to him too. Byssa continued: "Can I ask you a favor?"

"What is it?"

"Can you help me find out why she doesn't trust me?"

There was no reason to refuse. Syphus promised he'd try to find out why, and once that topic was settled, they talked about the other person in the village who was injured in some manner: Graham. "I passed by his cottage to say hi. He looked like Toriel tied him to the bed to force him to rest"

Byssa chuckled. "That wouldn't be a bad idea. When we told him what happened to Celia, he tried to get out of the bed. It's been a nightmare to keep him lying there, but he'll be okay" she looked at the open tunnel not too far from them "I don't trust the bug who brought him. Someone should try to talk to her and assess if she's evil or not"

"Evil is kind of a strong word"

"A lot of monsters are after our souls. That's evil no matter how you look at it"

"You don't know if she wants a human soul. If she did, why didn't she take Graham's? She had him defenseless!"

"I dunno. Maybe she needed him in order to find the rest of us," Byssa said stubbornly.

It didn't seem like she'd change her mind, so Syphus refrained from discussing that. Besides, now that he had heard about Byssa and Graham, he had to go fulfill his plans for the day while he awaited for a chance to talk to Celia again.

He wanted to talk to a certain ghost monster.

-ooooo-

 **Day 49**

When Syphus told Burgerpants to come with him once his shift was over, the overworked monster rolled his eyes. "How do you even have this much free time? You should get a job"

"I have one. I just have some advantages" it sure helped that Undyne was part of the team. She didn't understand very well how socializing with people helped his Personas get stronger, but she had accepted to give him some leeway to leave work earlier sometimes as long as he compensated later. Usually that meant delivering himself the materials to Toriel for new armor, but that was a price Syphus was willing to pay if it meant having some liberty to move freely when he needed it.

Burgerpants extinguished the cigarette he was smoking, unhappy. "I'm really jealous of you, man. Mettaton would never let me go before my turn is over"

"So, are you coming with me tonight?"

"No promises"

Even though Burgerpants refused to say yes, that night he waited outside the MTT Resort, willing to come along and even eager to see what was going to happen. He thought Syphus was annoying, but if he wanted to meet with him, then he wasn't going to deter him. Even though he didn't want to admit it, he appreciated that. Having someone to hang out with was nice.

He had to wait for the reptile for a while. When Syphus arrived, with a smile on his scaly face, Burgerpants saw he was carrying a rather old music player. Inside there was a CD. "Take this"

"What's this?"

"A music player. Turn it on, there's some good music in there"

"I'm not really into music" Burgerpants said but did it nonetheless. From the music player a haunting melody filled the cavern, sending shivers down Burgerpants' spine. It was a strange, catchy yet eerie tune that made any monster in the area feel like something had gripped their very souls. "...okay, I have so many questions and I'm not sure I want to find out"

"What? What's wrong?" Syphus was completely indifferent to the tune. It was as if he couldn't feel the eeriness of the tune.

"Did you make this?" Burgerpants turned the music player off, looking for the right words to describe it, and decided to settle onto simple and generic terms. "It's okay but I'm not sure it's my type of music"

"What if I told you I know the monster who made this music?"

Burgerpants shrugged. "Oh come on, bud. That's not that big of a deal"

Syphus nodded vigorously. "It is! He's just like you – he has a hobby, the difference is that he enjoys it and does something – unlike you, who refuses to be serious about acting"

"I'm not here for a lecture" he said sourly. The last part of what Syphus said was uncalled for, he didn't like that at all.

"It's not really meant to be a lecture. I was thinking you'd like to meet him"

Meeting random monsters he didn't know before? That didn't go well when Syphus took him to meet that Muffet spider. Since then Burgerpants was rather reluctant about following him to go meet other people – but would that be enough to deter Syphus? Would he insist, try to change his mind, and generally be a handful to deal with? While he was rather interested in befriending Burgerpants, it didn't mean he was going to overstep the boundaries.

Perhaps...agreeing to meet this monster would make it all end faster, but the moment he saw any spiderwebs he'd run away as fast as possible. No way he was going to get all tied up and with all his money stolen like last time.

Waterfall was a welcome change, compared to the heat of Hotland. Burgerpants sighed, content with the cooler temperature, and looked deep into the blue tunnels of Waterfall. "Has been ages since I walked in here"

"Too busy to go somewhere else other than the MTT resort?"

"More like I have nothing to do over here" sometimes it did frustrate him he had no social life, but no way he was going to admit it. That didn't mean he didn't notice where they were going to, though. Burgerpants realized Syphus was taking him to some sort of farm. He wasn't sure what kind of farm, but he knew it was there.

Seeing it was a snail farm was...he wasn't sure what the right word for it was. 'Underwhelming' may be the right word. Then again, he found a lot of things underwhelming nowadays. In front of the corral with the snails, there was a ghost, as tall as Syphus, who turned almost transparent when he saw Syphus.

"ooooh...you did come here...like you said you would"

"Of course I did. The friend I was talking about is here too!" Syphus said cheerfully, encouraging Burgerpants to approach. "Napstablook, this is...um...you may call him Burgerpants. Burgerpants, this is Napstablook"

All Burgerpants did was greet with a movement of his head. He really wasn't sure about any of this, and although Napstablook seemed to be getting somewhat more comfortable after the introduction, he still was rather shy, staring at the snails most of the time.

Talking about the music was especially useful to get the ghost to interact with them, judging by the small smile that appeared on his face once Syphus started talking. "He liked your music and would like to know how long you have been doing this" Syphus said "Right, Burgerpants?"

"Uh, yeah. Exactly, what he said" Where was Syphus going with this? Nothing to do but play along, he sure wasn't going to gratuitously hurt Napstablook's feelings. Napstablook's teary eyes focused on Burgerpants.

"You liked my music? Really...?"

"Yeah, it was..." Burgerpants wished he had a cigarette right now "...it kind of...made me feel...goosebumps" That sounded positive enough, right?

"Oh...thank you" Napstablook looked happy to hear that. Indeed, it was positive enough "What did you...like about it?"

Burgerpants _really_ wished he had that cigarette. He considered getting Syphus into the conversation just to not have to talk, but Syphus showed no intention to get involved, he was watching them talk, with a smirk on his face. Stupid Syphus! "The rhythm?"

Napstablook seemed pleased by that response. It could be kind of hard to read the ghost's face, he always seemed to be in the verge of tears. "Thank you...I work a lot on music but I almost never show it to anyone. I'm glad you liked it..."

"You're good at it, I tell you" Syphus finally said "You should share your music with more people"

"I dunno...what will everyone say?"

"Sometimes you just have to take the plunge and do it, right, Burgerpants?"

Burgerpants's lineface showed how he felt about this whole thing. Syphus really wasn't good at being subtle. Why did that guy care so much? Was it really because they were friends? "Not really"

"What?"

"I mean...if you think you're not good at something then maybe you're not"

"...oh..."

It was a rather negative opinion, but that was what he thought. Syphus cleared his throat, trying to break the very uncomfortable silence that had just fallen over. "So, Napstablook, what do you want to do with your music? Any plans for the future?"

"I dunno..."

"Syphus, come on!" Burgerpants muttered, starting to get annoyed.

"I make music because I like it...that's all. Is that an okay answer...?"

The simplicity of that answer was nothing like what Burgerpants expected. He thought Syphus had searched everywhere for a monster that'd have big plans for the future, that planned to be the best in whatever hobby or talent they had, and use that as a way to encourage Burgerpants to be a famous actor. 'Aim for the future! You have to be the best entertainer ever, even better than Mettaton!' he had imagined Syphus would say to him. Someone who did things just for fun didn't fit with what he thought Syphus was doing. "What?"

"It's like...like I make music because I like to do it...I don't plan to do anything with it..."

"It's nice to have a hobby" Syphus said softly.

"You...you have something like that, guys?"

Syphus swung his legs, relaxing, letting one of the snails start climbing on him. "Lately I don't have much time for hobbies, but if I had to think of something I guess astronomy is something I like"

"Astronomy?" He didn't look much like the kind of monster that'd be into something they had never seen before in person.

"Yeah. Sitting outside with the night sky above you was kind of liberating, even during hard times" he looked up, at the few sparkling stones on the ceiling "Not that I have seen real stars" a sentiment pretty much all monsters in the Underground sympathized with. It was Burgerpants' turn, and walking away would made him look like quite the rude jackass, so he had to contribute:

"I kind of like acting"

"Oh...!" Napstablook floated towards him, curious "Do you...know Mettaton?"

It was a well-intentioned question, most likely intended to lead to a friendly conversation about Mettaton, but Burgerpants' face soured immediately. "What kind of question is that?!" he shouted, ticked off by the mere mention of his boss. Even his eyes were twitching! Napstablook turned transparent immediately. Syphus buried his face into his hands.

"Sometimes you're a mess, you know that?"

"Look who's talking!"

Thankfully, once any topic that could lead to talking about Burgerpants' budding acting career was left behind, Napstablook and Burgerpants seemed to get along pretty well! By the time a dozen snails were crawling on Syphus, he was starting to think he could consider this a triumphant moment of some sort, even if Burgerpants wasn't nearly as motivated as Syphus hoped he'd be.

"Guess this means you'll be coming back here in the future?"

"Yeah, I guess..." Burgerpants replied, relaxed. Even though he was lying down on the hard cold ground he was enjoying his time there. Not too far away Napstablook was doing the same, having invited Burgerpants and Syphus to partake in his family tradition. Syphus had lasted just a few minutes, too restless to lie down for long. By now it had been almost half an hour of feeling like trash.

"It was worth it to come here" Syphus said. Burgerpants had gotten a new friend, that had to count for something! Even though Burgerpants didn't want to admit it, in the end he nodded, surrendering to the sensation of peace invading him.

 **Burgerpants seems to have accepted your encouragement for once**

 **The Fast Food Worker Social Link has reached Rank 4!**

 **Your power to create Personas of the Magician Arcana has grown!**

Grabbing every snail shell on him with two fingers, Syphus left all those snails on the ground, discretely trying to wipe the slime off his arms. "I have to leave now, but since you're having fun you should stay for a while longer! Is that okay?"

"I don't mind" there even was a relaxed smile on Burgerpants' face. Glad the visit was productive in some manner, Syphus stepped away from the corral, waving goodbye to Burgerpants and Napstablook, leaving them to continue lying on the ground and feeling like garbage. He didn't really understand how it helped, but if it helped them, then more power to them.

 _I'm just glad Burgerpants is relaxing. Poor guy, he really needs it._

-ooooo-

Alphonse left aside the Strength card, starting to get worried. It had been a while since ASRIEL had been here, and that was unusual. Usually ASRIEL came to the Velvet Room after a skirmish in his game, if only to give Alphonse a riddle and see them try to solve it. It was a frustrating time for Alphonse but they enjoyed it nonetheless, just because it was ASRIEL who presented the riddle to them. Spending time with a friend was what they liked, not the puzzle itself.

"Master, you know everything that's going on. Can you tell me if ASRIEL is okay?" Alphonse requested. It wasn't often a Velvet Room attendant asked Igor a favor, and it was rare for him to accept. It most likely was because the requests usually were unreasonable, such as turning the Velvet Room into a disco. Questions like this one should receive an answer, they hoped.

Igor turned his head towards the attendant. His almost permanent grin still made Alphonse uneasy. "Are you worried about him?"

"What if something happened to him?"

"You need not to worry. Our guest will not hurt anyone else. I believe he now understands the consequences of his actions" Igor said "Your friend will be okay"

"Then why hasn't he come yet?"

ASRIEL's timing was perfect, the door of the Velvet Room opened and the monster entered, apologizing over and over before plopping on the couch in front of Alphonse. "I'm sorry, I was busy!"

There was nothing to apologize for. Besides, there were other things to think about, such as the riddle ASRIEL gave him not long afterwards. On the table ASRIEL placed a few objects, forming a square he said represented a cottage – a perfect closed room. To represent the pieces in the area, cards from Alphonse's deck were used. Strength and Fool inside the square, Chariot, Sun and Judgment outside.

It was an exceedingly simple puzzle, simpler than all puzzles so far, and because it was simple, Alphonse thought there must be some kind of trick. They had to ask questions now.

 **"Syphus, Annie and MK didn't step away from Celia's cottage** " ASRIEL said " **Nobody entered the cottage while they were there**. It's like a closed room"

"That's how all the puzzles so far are like" Alphonse pointed out. Almost all of the riddles involved the target falling down without anyone else being able to approach them, for one reason or another. Frisk in that isolated chamber in Waterfall, Ananas in the tunnels, Alphys in the elevator, Undyne vanishing from her hospital room, and now this. "Is Ciruel the guilty party here?"

"I refuse to answer" confirming or denying a person's guilty or innocent status would give away too much. ASRIEL wanted Alphonse to give an answer.

"Fine. Did Celia see the person who attacked her?" depending on the answer, that could narrow down the list of possibilities, or at least prove she hadn't done that to herself. ASRIEL considered no answering, but in the end he threw Alphonse a bone, for the sake of being fair.

"She did! **Someone stood by her side, where she could see them, and made her fall down** " ASRIEL placed a claw over the Fool card. Being the 0 card, it could represent anyone. It was a good card to use as the placeholder for the attacker.

So it wasn't a covert operation...that narrowed things a little. Not enough for them to say with certainty who did this to Celia, but enough to feel like they were actually getting somewhere. "It must have been someone she trusted..." Alphonse said. It was a rather straightforward puzzle, they could already see the solution, or so they hoped. "None of them moved from the front of her cottage?"

" **All three stayed there until Graham was found.** After that, nobody was in front of the cottage"

"Was she unconscious by then?"

"I refuse to answer"

A refusal...that was pretty much admitting that was an important point, wasn't it? Luckily for them, there were only two possibilities: either Celia was already unconscious when they went to help Graham, in which case one of the three who stayed in front of the cottage was responsible for her situation, or she still was awake and then someone took advantage of everybody's absence to sneak in. Even if someone she didn't know entered the cabin, who'd hear her, since everybody was away?

They knew which possibility they thought was more likely. Deciding to take a gamble, Alphonse said a name.

ASRIEL's reaction was surprisingly subdued. It undoubtedly was thanks to Lucia's training – no respectable witch would let their face show the right answer. Puzzles were supposed to be given through words, not through your facial expression. "Are you sure?"

"Not really..."

Even though they were hesitating, ASRIEL couldn't confirm nor deny their theory. He was stuck, with no rebuttal. He also didn't want to acknowledge defeat. As far as they all were concerned, this was a tie. Alphonse had managed to be a step ahead, for once.

Maybe it was too easy of a puzzle.

Now that the puzzle had been solved, Alphonse asked ASRIEL why he had taken so long to arrive. They had thought something had happened to him! "I was very worried, so much I thought I should get out of here and go look for you. I even thought he may have attacked you," they said. Although they still were very upset at Sisyphus' actions, his remark lacked the bite you'd think it'd have. When ASRIEL frowned, hurt, they retracted what they had just said. "I'm sorry...it's complicated"

ASRIEL felt bad Alphonse had worried so much for him. "It's alright...it took me a while because he was apologizing to me"

Alphonse, delighted, leaned forward, almost jumping off their seat. "You reconciled?"

"We did! I almost couldn't believe it, but...I kept trusting he'd do the right thing" ASRIEL smiled "I believed he would"

And then he started telling how it happened.

-ooooo-

Sisyphus was taking his sweet time to consider the current situations. It was unlikely someone would join the team anytime soon, so his current strategy was to strengthen the relationships he had so far in order to make his Personas stronger. Everything indicated someone would fall down in matter of days, if he wanted to make use of any new power by then he had to hurry.

Unfortunately, for the time being people like Celia were unavailable. His options were few, his time limited. Lucia's piece, that insect monster from the depths of the Underground, was hanging a bell onto the opening she had come from into the room with the rock plateau, extending a cord into the darkness. "What's that?"

"She's placing it in case anyone wants to talk to her" Lucia explained "I have a feeling it'll be useful someday"

"Wouldn't be easier to walk inside and reach wherever he lives?"

Cornio shook his head. "No! It's so dark in there you'd need very potent lights to see where you're going through. Not even the royal family knows how it's like in there!"

"It's that secluded?"

"It's a nice, dark world down there" Lucia said "More monsters than you think live there, with their own customs and traditions. It's almost like a completely different society than the rest of monsterkind" a serene smile crossed her face "There are parts that are like nothing in the Underground right now. Fields, forests, a few puzzles..."

"You seem to know a lot about that"

"I think she likes it" Cornio commented, erasing Lucia's smile with just a few words. Clearing her throat with discomfort, she stammered:

"I-It's just what I observed from what my piece knows. I needed to know about her life and how she was like, so I saw all that"

"I thought you'd choose a human" most witches had been human before turning into what they were now. You'd think they'd try to take pieces that'd be familiar to them, not unknown lifeforms such as monsters.

That line of thought must have been obvious, because Lucia informed:

"I picked her because she and I are similar. We're definitely not the same person, but we're similar enough. Also, she fits well with my motif, if you know what I mean"

"You haven't been subtle about it at all" Sisyphus deadpanned. From the other side of the table, Cornio chuckled, and Lucia groaned.

"Thanks a lot, guys, both of you are the worst. Anyway, worlds with intelligent life forms such as monsters are rare. Humans are everywhere, monsters aren't. Not only that, monsters are infinitely more interesting than humans anyway" she hovered a hand over the board, dreamy "Isn't it cool how societies that aren't human exist? And it's even better when they have some sort of relationship with humanity. Two different types of intelligent living beings, together in the same world! It's such a rare and beautiful situation! Even when they don't get along beings like monsters and humans coexisting are so interesting—"

"When's the last time you were so passionate about something?" in all the decades he had known here, Sisyphus didn't remember her being so enthusiastic about anything. The warmth, the sheer joy, the youthful interest, it all was so alien on her for a moment Sisyphus thought he was dreaming. Cornio didn't seem that surprised, although he was looking away, he didn't seem comfortable right now.

Noticing her enthusiasm had been noticed, Lucia once again tried to pretend she hadn't just been like that. "You're thinking too much! It just reminds me...of..." then she mumbled something so softly Sisyphus didn't understand. Cornio did, his eyes widening with surprise.

"Of what?" Sisyphus asked.

"It reminds me of where I came from" she clarified, primly crossing her hands over her lap "Pretty much all the worlds I have played with are similar. Humans and non-humans trying to live together in the same world...it always makes some interesting stories happen.

This one is not too shabby, if I may say that. I'm actually looking forward to seeing how it'll end, although I was planning to be just a spectator, not part of the play itself" Lucia laughed boisterously, noisily, like she was trying to distract them from how she felt. To Sisyphus it didn't go unnoticed how hollow her laughter actually was, how uncertainty seemed to grip her.

Only when she thought they weren't listening anymore she whispered, more to herself than to anyone else: "...I wonder what kind of ending this story will have...if it'll be the one you two want or the one I'm aiming for."

 **You heard some information you didn't know about Lucia**

 **The Witch of Hope Social Link has reached Rank 4!**

 **Your power to create Personas of the Star Arcana has grown!**

Even though she wasn't prone to talking about herself or showing any vulnerabilities she may have, Lucia didn't seem too upset about having admitted that about her life. Maybe she trusted her guests more than she wanted to admit. "Golly, I had no idea..." Cornio said with pity, talking about how this world reminded her of where she originally was. That was enough to break Lucia's satisfaction, her gaze hardened.

"Don't pity me. Don't forget that every world I have meddled with is now gone. Destroyed, kaput, doesn't exist anymore," she raised her voice "The only reason why I'm comfortable with a world like yours is because I'm familiar with how it works. Nothing else!"

"...you know we're your friends? If you want to talk—" Sisyphus started, earning an exasperated look from her.

"I-I-I didn't ask for an offer of friendship. We're not even really friends, you're more like an apprentice"

"Apprentices can worry about their superiors too" she was trying hard to push them away, that he could see.

"Besides, shouldn't you get your problems in order before trying to help me with mine?" she said. In a way she was right. He should make amends and accept responsibility for his actions before helping others, especially since he was being stubborn and refused to officially apologize.

"That doesn't have anything to do with this!"

"You can't pretend you know what's best for the rest of us if you don't even know what to do about your own problems. Have you even apologized to Cornio?"

"N-No, it's okay...he doesn't have to" Cornio mumbled, and not in a convincing manner at all, so unconvincing Sisyphus would have preferred Cornio would tell to his face he was an unforgivable person and deserved to burn. It'd be less painful than seeing him try to brush it aside with such an accusatory tone.

Sisyphus knew very well he was a coward. His piece knew it too and disapproved wholeheartedly, yet none of them had tried to fix that. What was the point of acknowledging a flaw if you did nothing to solve it? While Syphus the piece had an excuse due to his master not letting him apologize, Sisyphus didn't. He simply was procrastinating, leaving it for later, trying to focus on the game. That was neglecting his relationship with Cornio, and clearly the more he let the problem go untouched, the worse everything would get.

No, this couldn't keep going like this.

It took him a while to decide the right words. He practiced in his mind over and over, imagining how Cornio would reply. No excuses would be valid, it had to be a real apology. "Cornio, I want to talk to you for a moment" he said once he felt ready. Cornio didn't seem particularly enthused about talking with Sisyphus, but followed him out of the room nonetheless, Lucia behind him until they all left the den.

Lucia stretched, her articulations popping. "I'm going to my room for a while. Tell me when you're ready to continue the game" It was her graceful way of leaving them alone and also giving the pieces enough time to do whatever they wanted with no restrictions. Sisyphus hurried towards the lobby.

"Let's talk outside"

"...I'm not sure about this" Cornio said.

"I just want to apologize" he blurted out. An apology wasn't what Cornio expected to hear, but he did follow Sisyphus, hopeful. Could it be for real?

The two of them walked to the bench, each of them sitting down on one end of the seat. For a moment they stared into the swirling purple clouds, waiting for something to break the uncomfortable silence. It was Sisyphus who did it.

"...as I said, I want to apologize. I did something horrible and I don't expect to be forgiven, but I..." the entire speech he had prepared vanished from his head. Maybe that was for the better, an apology prepared beforehand may ring fake. _I just have to trust myself and do it_. "I don't mean to make it sound like an excuse, but I did what I thought was best at the time"

"I don't get it" Cornio said.

Sisyphus leaned on the arm rest. "There's this monster in the Underground, Flowey. He's...unusual, let's say"

"Really?" there was a lot of tension in Cornio's voice.

"He could only exist through the experiment Alphys did. Usually she does this experiment by herself, but in this timeline she didn't, because all humans are currently alive. I'd rather not go into much detail about that" it'd make Alphys sound awful. Cornio wasn't fooled, though.

"She needed a human SOUL to extract Determination from, I know"

"You know?"

"Lucia told me the details" Cornio refused to look at him, always staring at the purple clouds. "Just some of them"

Sisyphus wasn't sure if Lucia would tell everything without distorting the information in any manner, so he explained to Cornio everything he could. About Alphys, about the experiment, about how a human soul was vital and necessary. Cornio listened carefully to every word, barely showing any reaction. _Does he believe me or not?_ It did sound hard to believe, now that he was saying it all aloud.

When he finished the explanation about how the experiment worked, Cornio nodded slowly. "I understand...that you needed a human soul, I get it. That doesn't mean you had to kill one of your friends"

His first impulse was to want to say something like 'It's not like I _wanted_ to!' but that'd only make things worse. _Deep breaths, deep breaths_... "I know that was unforgivable. I got myself be swayed by my emotions" That was a rather bland reply, but it was the truth. Right now he needed to not be emotional. The moment he started pleading and stopped behaving in a relatively reasonable manner, the apology would mean nothing.

Even though Sisyphus was calm and measured – he hoped – Cornio's face contorted in a gesture of pain and betrayal. "You shouldn't have! Flowey isn't worth it!"

"I'm not sure what Lucia told you about Flowey—"

"I know enough about Flowey to know he's not worth it! You shouldn't..." he trailed off. Sisyphus was sure he saw tears glistening on the corners of Cornio's eyes.

Sighing, Sisyphus nodded. "It's not really about Flowey. It'd take a while to explain, but let's say Flowey is holding a friend of mine" Cornio froze when he heard that. "I'm indebted to him"

"Indebted...?"

"It's a long story, but if I had to put it in a few words I'd say he saved me" Sisyphus said, a faint smile crossing his face. "His name was Asriel. He's the prince, you know? So of course he had never been over the surface. Turns out some things happened and he and I met.

Back then I had just started to live like I was in autopilot, living one day after another with no point. It was Asriel who got me out of that, all because I wanted to help him return home. Thanks to him and Frisk I started realizing I got back the will to not get stagnant anymore. It was they who saved me"

"But you're a witch now"

Sisyphus clicked his tongue, that was a bit of a touchy topic. "I died, thanks for reminding me. That doesn't mean I don't appreciate what they did for me" he leaned back on the bench "That's why I'm trying to help my friends, but above all them there's Asriel and Frisk"

"And if he didn't exist in this timeline..."

"Then Asriel would be the only person that wouldn't get to be in the best timeline we could make"

Cornio blinked. Was that Cornio being selfless? Could something born from selfish desires really be selfless? "You can't be there either"

"...I know. I don't really care" His piece would be the one who'd get to enjoy it, and while he wasn't exactly Sisyphus, he still held part of his soul. It was the same thing, as far as he was concerned.

Cornio stood up. "I didn't know you were willing to go to such lengths for Asriel"

"I didn't know either. Being here hasn't been a good influence on me" After decades of being with Lucia, it was easy to start seeing everyone in the world in a different light – and not in a positive manner.

"Do you think Asriel would have wanted that?"

There was no hesitation when Sisyphus answered. "No. I'm sure he'd disapprove, maybe he'd never talk to me again"

"Would that be worth it?" Cornio turned to face him "Just to do this for him?"

"...at this point I doubt it" The regret for taking Ciruel's life to ensure Asriel's existence wasworse with every passing day, especially because it didn't guarantee Asriel would exist. Right now it was _Flowey_. That was different.

It truly was a mistake to do such a thing, for many obvious reasons.

Sisyphus had been here to make amends, but he never imagined Cornio would envelope him in a hug with no warning at all. Caught off-guard, all Sisyphus could do was hold his hands in the air, flabbergasted and unsure what to even do other than plead: "Hey, Cornio, personal space-!" The complaint was forgotten, replaced by contemplation.

Unlike Sisyphus, Cornio - ASRIEL had done this by impulse, spurred by a sudden warm feeling that sprung from the depths of his soul. Although Sisyphus had done something horrible, he regretted it now and he could see it. The regret now was appreciated, and although he still didn't approve at all of everything that had happened so far, he did see Sisyphus was making a sincere effort to apologize. The desire to forgive him wasn't just because of the friendship his younger alternate self had with this guy. ASRIEL _did_ want to reconcile.

"Sisyphus, you did something bad but it doesn't have to end here. It'll be okay, I know it will!"

"Are you trying to comfort me?" It was nice, but also unexpected.

"I guess I am. Let's leave this behind us and keep playing. We have to make this timeline reach the best ending we can get"

Needless to say, Sisyphus fully agreed.

 **Cornio has accepted your apology**

 **You feel your relationship with Cornio is on the right track again.**

 **The Unusual Witch Social Link of the Death Arcana has been repaired!**

What Sisyphus did would be a weight he'd have to carry for the rest of his life, but at least it'd be easier now that Cornio had accepted the apology. Although there was some reticence, he was willing to continue playing.

That was all he could ask for.

Sisyphus opened the door to enter the house, stepping aside to let Cornio enter. When he was about to close the door behind him, Sisyphus hummed loudly, getting Cornio's attention. "Hey, I was wondering if...if you're hiding your ident—" _hold on, that's a tad too direct._

Cornio seemed to get his guard up. "Yes?"

"Are you...? Sisyphus stopped, unsure if he should ask. "Are you familiar with the brooches Lucia makes...?" his hesitation was obvious, and Cornio wasn't rushing to answer either. It was like they were waiting for the other to make a decisive move, to ask the question or to answer it preemptively.

Sisyphus was the one who caved. A bit fearful of the answer he could get, he decided to backtrack: "No, nevermind. Let's just continue"

If Cornio didn't want to admit it yet, Sisyphus sure wasn't going to force the matter.

-ooooo-

He didn't know what his master was doing, but Syphus appreciated the reprieve. The moment the feeling of freedom invaded him he took a decision: he was going to take the first step to solve his problems, no matter what his master wanted. This was for the better, he was sure of it.

Hoping he'd get enough time, Syphus ran to Coruel's cottage, knocking on the door with urgency. The seconds felt like hours while Ciruel went to the door and opened it, spurred by what had sounded like an emergency. "What's happening?!"

"Nothing urgent is happening, I wanted to talk with you"

Ciruel put a hand on his chest, relieved, and adjusted his askew glasses. It seemed he had grabbed them in a hurry. "I thought we were under attack or something! What's wrong with you?!"

"Are you busy?" _Great. I just arrived and I already made him upset._

"Not really," the scholar said, "If this can't wait until the morning I guess I can make some time for you," still annoyed, Ciruel opened the door further and stepped aside, letting Syphus enter. The piece sat onto the edge of the empty fire pit on the center of the cottage. He felt prepared to make amends somehow, so he started speaking without hesitation:

"Look, I think there's tension between us. I want to solve that somehow"

"...to be frank with you, I'm not sure why I'm angry with you," Ciruel admitted, "I just know when I see you I feel like you wronged me somehow"

"Was it anything I said?" it was rather disquieting Ciruel knew something was wrong. With some luck he didn't know many details.

"No. It feels more like you did something bad, I just can't remember what it is," _Good, this should make things easier_. It felt like cheating if Ciruel didn't know why exactly he was so angry with him, though. Ciruel added: "If you stop avoiding me we can start over. That okay with you?"

"Sure! I'm all for it!"

"Then it's a deal," Ciruel fiddled with his thick glasses, "Sorry if I'm not crying on your shoulder with forgiveness or something. I have never been an emotive person"

"No, it's okay! I'm glad we can be on civil terms again," Syphus smiled, glad things were going well. Ciruel patted him on the shoulder, leading him out of the cottage.

"If you ever need anything you can come to me. I'll lend an ear, although you shouldn't expect much from me. My day's pretty busy, what with Papyrus and everything"

"You better not say he's a hassle"

"If I considered him a hassle I wouldn't be taking the time to be with him, you daft idiot," he said, "He's the only friend I have down here, you know," with that comment, Ciruel slowly closed the door. Syphus waited for a moment in case something else would happen, but nothing did. Ciruel didn't open the door again.

The social link stayed broken.

Even though there had been a reconciliation and they were in okay terms, it seemed their relationship would forever lead nowhere. His actions towards Ciruel couldn't be solved with a mere apology, they likely wouldn't ever be fixed, not without both acknowledging what exactly happened. Even if Syphus told Ciruel everything that happened, he knew Ciruel wouldn't believe a single word about it. It'd be a useless endeavor to even try explaining to him how SAVE and LOAD worked, much less how he was killed and then revived when time was rewinded.

As much as he hated to admit it, things would never be the same between Ciruel and him. He had said he was okay with his presence, but the breach between them was insurmountable.

Sighing and still feeling pangs of regret over his actions, Syphus turned and left, intending to go to his own cottage to sleep. _...at this point I'm really not sure making Flowey exist was worth it_. He hoped his master knew what he had been doing.

With some luck the consequences of creating Flowey wouldn't be too bad.

-ooooo-

"I found it!" Flowey had said to them not too long ago, "It's a village full of humans!"

It had taken Flowey a while to finally be able to follow Syphus into the Hidden Village. When the flower emerged on the boundaries of the village he almost couldn't believe what he was seeing. Not only that monster could transform into a human – he guessed that was what was going on? – he also had kept several other humans around! Or could they transform into monsters or something? He hadn't stayed around for long, knowing they'd see him if he was careless.

He made sure to gather as much information as possible before leaving, though. From beneath the ground he felt the layout of the surface, soon finding out there were seven people in total. If they were humans, then that'd be enough to shatter the Barrier. Varying ages, from kids to elders. The youngest human didn't have striped clothing, but he was sure she was a kid. A couple of the humans were injured, had something happened?

Chara had taken every bit of information with frustration, not at Flowey, but at the thought of there being so many humans in the Underground. After all this time, his anger at humanity hadn't diminished not even a little bit. Frisk was cooperating because Chara hadn't told them the entirety of their plans, so while Frisk dug around in the snow to get at the soil, they asked Frisk to make the question they had been mulling for a while: "Why did it take you so long to follow him?" The explanation as to how Syphus was vanishing in thin air in a specific part of Waterfall was interesting to Chara. Obviously, it was less likely it was because of Syphus, and more because of that part of Waterfall. If it had been something Syphus could do, then he'd have done it in other places too.

Flowey's next comment got their attention for a different reason: "His SOUL also looks strange...it's like a red human soul, but almost half of it is missing"

"Really?" Frisk sensed Chara wanted more details, while Frisk put the soil in a flowerpot they had managed to obtain.

"I thought he'd be like me because he didn't have a soul, but it's not like he's..." Empty. Syphus did have emotions, that much he could see.

 _"Give me a sec, I want to talk to him"_ Chara requested to Frisk and took control without waiting for permission. Ignoring Frisk's protests, Chara put the flowerpot aside "He's not human and he's not a monster. Weird, right?"

Flowey noticed the change in the human's demeanor. It was Chara know, he noticed. "Is that even possible?" That sounded kind of impossible, even to the flower with the essence of a monster.

"I dunno. You should befriend him and see if he tells you anything—"

"No"

Chara turned their head. Flowey's refusal was immediate and headstrong, and it went completely against the plan they had just started to think. "No?"

"I won't. I don't like him; I'm not going to be anywhere near him. He's the one who made me into...into this!" for an emotionless flower, he sure was showing a lot of dislike towards Syphus.

"You have to, it's necessary if we want to find out more..."

"We don't have to do anything with him. I can keep observing him and you'll...do whatever it is you want to do" to Flowey it was kind of weird how it was easier for him to plan ahead without any emotions twisting his thoughts. Even his refusal to interact with Syphus was because of a logical reason instead of emotional reasons, even if he had just said it was because 'he didn't like him'.

Chara was starting to get irritated by Flowey's uncooperativeness. "That's not going to be of much help, just do what I'm telling you to do!"

"I won't!" Flowey bristled, his face twisting. "I already said I won't! I'm not even that good of an actor!"

The part about not being a good actor caught Chara off-guard, so much they started laughing. Falling on the snow, Chara laughed, almost in disbelief about that. Flowey, not being a good actor? As if! They had to be good at deceiving, after everything he had done! But...that had been Flowey after who knew how many times in a repeating timeline. This was Flowey, recently created. He was much closer to Asriel than to the flower they knew. How could they have forgotten that simple fact?

Flowey's vines emerged from the snow, he nudged Chara a few times. "Chara? Chara, hey, stop laughing! Please?"

It was like the old times, Chara reacting to stuff in some manner and Asriel asking and wondering why they were like that. Good old times...

Chara managed to stand up, shaking the snow off their clothes. "I'm sorry, it's okay. You don't have to do that if you don't want to," they had to forgive him for that. Pressing on would only turn Flowey against them, they thought.

"...really?"

"When did you turn so assertive, Azzy?"

"...I don't know," he admitted, not sure if that was a good thing or not. Had he really changed? It hadn't been too long since their revival, just a few months from his perspective! He didn't think he had changed at all since then!

...maybe the lack of emotions affected him more than he thought it would. A very faint and cold sensation overcame him. Discomfort? Expectation? He wasn't sure, maybe it was just his imagination trying to make him feel _something_.

Wanting to leave that topic aside, Flowey directed his attention at the flowerpot, now full of soil. "What's that for?"

"This is for when we get out. You're coming with us!"

"But we can't get out. I can't cross the Barrier even while going underground, I tried"

Chara stood up, returning control to Frisk. They were both in support of bringing Flowey along, Frisk even was pleased Chara had proposed it. They weren't sure why Chara wanted to bring Flowey along, but they sure weren't going to object to that! "Don't worry, everything will be okay! I know someone's working to break the Barrier!"

Flowey wasn't going to complain about that, although he wasn't sure anyone would be capable of freeing monsterkind. Pretty unlikely, all things considered. "I understand Chara wanting to bring me along, but why you? I don't even know you"

"Because we're friends!" No other reason needed. Flowey didn't seem particularly flattered, but he nodded like he understood. Mumbling that he was going to go spend some time with Papyrus and Ciruel, Flowey disappeared under the soil, leaving Frisk siting on the snow.

Once they were alone, they finally could comment to Chara something they had been glad about. "For a moment I didn't think you wanted him with us"

 _"Why not? He's my brother, remember? I'm not going to leave him behind"_

"It's just that...sometimes you're...not very nice to him," Frisk said carefully. That was a very big understatement and they all knew it. Chara scoffed and made no attempt to deny that, instead pressing on with what they wanted from Frisk:

 _"Listen, if Azzy doesn't want to do it then you should be the one to be that guy's friend. You're already his friend anyway, it should be easy for you to get him to say something"_

"Why do you want that so much?" Frisk simply didn't understand why Chara was so focused on him.

 _"I'm just curious! Don't you want to know what's up with him?"_

"...I guess I do?"

" _Then it's decided!"_

It was: although Chara requested that, Frisk wasn't really willing to play along. Something was odd about Chara's interest, and they weren't willing to do something they'd regret later. Frisk took the flowerpot into the skeleton brothers' house, leaving it on the table. Chara's relationship with Asriel was...strange. Frisk had no doubt Chara liked Asriel and truly wanted his help, and they even trusted Asriel to some extent.

On the other hand, Frisk remembered how Chara mercilessly tore Flowey apart in several timelines.

Although they genuinely liked Flowey, they sure weren't going to let that affection stand in the middle of their plans.

A red soul means determination. Chara's determination would go on, even at the cost of their friends' lives.

Frisk hoped nothing of the sort would happen ever again.

* * *

 **SOCIAL LINKS:**

 **Fool - Frisk - RANK 7**

 **Magician - Burgerpants - RANK 4**

 **Priestess - Alphys - RANK 7**

 **Empress - Toriel - RANK 3**

 **Emperor - Cohen - RANK 4**

 **Hierophant - Ciruel - BROKEN**

 **Lovers - ? - RANK 0**

 **Chariot - Ananas - RANK 7**

 **Justice - Undyne - RANK 6**

 **Hermit - Gaster - RANK 1**

 **Fortune - ? - RANK 0**

 **Strength - Celia - RANK 3**

 **Hanged Man - ? - RANK 0**

 **Death - Cornio - RANK 2**

 **Temperance - ? - RANK 0**

 **Devil - ? - RANK 0**

 **Tower - ? - RANK 0**

 **Star - Lucia - RANK 4**

 **Moon - ? - RANK 0**

 **Sun - Papyrus - RANK 3**

 **Judgment - Team - RANK 4**

 **Aeon - Syphus - REVERSED**

 **Jester - Alphonse - REVERSED**


End file.
